India's pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is injury free and roaring in England. At Headingley, Leeds, eyes are glued to Bumrah. Spectators wait for Bumrah to come and bowl to see an epic contest. But, on most occassions, batters are seen in a soup when they come up against him. On Day 3, Harry Brooks's catch was dropped off his bowling. Later, he returned to get rid of Chris Woakes with a booming inswinger and he did not need to do enough to get through Josh Tongue's defense. The English media has been in awe of Bumrah. Former England pacer Steven Finn in his column, raved about Bumrah and is happy that he did not face him in his career.
"Whenever Bumrah gets the ball in his hand it is box-office viewing. It feels as though something is happening every ball. He makes the bowlers at the other end look as though they are playing a different sport," Finn wrote in his column for BBC.
"He can leave the best players in the world confused about what has just happened. A whir of arms, a flick of his wrist, and the ball has hit you before you know it.
"If I ever had the misfortune of facing Bumrah, he'd be done with me in a maximum of two deliveries. A good short ball, then a searing yorker would do the trick. I'd hold out hope he'd go straight for the second of those options as, by all accounts, it is incredibly hard to see the ball when Bumrah is bowling. He would cause a tailender like me some harm."
Finn compares Bumrah to a computer
Bumrah claimed a five-wicket haul in Headingley, first by an Indian bowler at Headingley since 1986. One of his wickets in the ongoing Test was England veteran batter Joe Root. This is the 10th time Bumrah has dismissed Root. Finn labels Bumrah as best in the business and compared him to a computer.
"Bumrah makes Root push at balls wide of off stump, just like the first innings of this Test, angled in and moving away at the last second once he has opted to play at the ball, continuing in a similar vein to their duels in 2021," Finn explained.
"Outside of the technical elements of Bumrah's bowling action, I don't think there has been a fast bowler in history able to affect matches so consistently.
"He is like a computer constantly calibrating what is needed in any given situation, and he is able to implement almost exactly what he wants to with absolute precision."
Bumrah set for another record
With the way Bumrah is bowling, he is set to become first Indian bowler to take 50 Test wickets against England in England. He needs eight more wickets to achieve the feat. Ishant Sharma (48) is at top, followed by Kapil Dev (43 wickets).