'They planned to bowl bouncers...': Ex-India star accuses Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer of deliberately trying to injure Jasprit Bumrah in third Test

Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif lashed out at England bowlers especially Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer and claimed that they wanted to injure Jasprit Bumrah at Lord's so that he fails to participate in the remaining two Tests of the series. In Bumrah's knock of 5 runs from 54 deliveries, the England bowlers targeted the India seamer on the body and also bowled several bouncers.

According to Kaif, the England bowlers weren't aiming to dismiss Bumrah, but rather wanted to injure his finger or shoulder and that is why they were bowling a barrage of bouncers against the 31-year-old. Eventually, this plan ended up working for the Three Lions as Bumrah got dismissed from a bouncer by Stokes.

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"Stokes and Archer planned to bowl bouncers against Bumrah. If he doesn’t get out, hit him on the finger or shoulder to injure him. This stays in the mind of bowlers to injure the main bowler, whom our batters find tough to bat against. This was the plan, which worked later (to get him out)," Kaif said on his YouTube channel.

Kaif was critical of Gill for showing unnecessary aggression against Crawley

Kaif also questioned why India captain Shubman Gill showed aggression against Zak Crawley during the third day of Lord's Test. The 25-year-old was involved in a heated exchange with the England batter after the latter had pulled out four times before facing a delivery from Bumrah. This lead Gill to accuse Crawley of time-wasting and the India captain was even involved in an on-field argument with Ben Duckett soon after.

The former India batter felt Gill lost his cool and added that there was no need for him to show aggression against Crawley as the England batter could have been easily dismissed on the next day as well. He was also critical of Mohammed Siraj and Nitish Kumar Reddy giving send-offs to England batters after dismissing them.

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“If Crawley hadn’t got out on Day 3, he could’ve got dismissed on the next day. Was he in good form? It was a loss for us. Gill lost his cool, Siraj joined him and then Reddy celebrated after getting him out. You can show aggression but you need to do that at the right time. They didn’t choose the right time," Kaif stated.

Meanwhile, it is crucial for Gill & Co. to emerge victorious in the fourth Test that is set to commence from July 23 in Manchester. If the Men in Blue do record a defeat at Old Trafford, then England will seal the series before even playing the fifth and final match.