Former England pacer Stuart Broad eulogized India vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah after his exploits with the ball on Day 2 of the second Test in Visakhapatnam. Bumrah returned figures of 6/45 as India bowled England out for 253 in the first innings to take a 143-run lead in the second day. He dismissed Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Tom Hartley and fellow pacer James Anderson, respectively, on a spin-friendly track. Speaking on his duel with Root, Broad emphasised that a bowler of Bumrah's quality would trouble any batter in the world, let alone the former England captain.
For the record, Bumrah dismissed Root for an eighth time in Test cricket. He set a perfect trap for the batter, bowling a series of in-swingers, before surprising him with a ball that went away from the stumps.
"If someone as good as Joe Root is habitually struggling with a particular bowler, you can bet your bottom dollar that every batter on the Test scene will be. Jasprit Bumrah has a unique action and there's no doubting that India are a much better team with him in it. He's an incredible Twenty20 bowler, but as his record of 152 wickets at just 20.28 runs each attests, he is even more effective in Test cricket. Statistically, he is right up there with the very best to have played the game," Broad wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
Broad suggested that playing Bumrah is like facing former Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga, especially due to his "slingy round-arm" action, which makes him even more difficult to read.
"Facing him isn't like facing anyone else in the world and I used to hate it. Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga, with his slingy round-arm release, had that point of difference about him and Bumrah has something similar in that his deliveries are incredibly hard to pick up. Because he trots in from a very calm, short, shuffling run-up, he generates no real energy and there is therefore no real build-up to the ball suddenly being upon you at the striker's end. It can be very disconcerting," he added.
Bumrah's six-wicket spell saw him become quickest Indian pacer to reach the milestone of 150 wickets.