India wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant lavished praise on pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the third Test match against England, which is scheduled to take place at iconic Lord's Stadium in England. While attending media ahead of the third Test match, a reporter asked India's vice-captain, "What makes Jasprit Bumrah special?" and the star wicketkeeper responded with one word.
Bumrah has missed the second Test match against England due to workload management but he will most likely to feature in the third Test.
The wicketkeeper-batter made the comment during the press conference on the eve of the third Test between India and England at Lord's, London. "I think everything (What makes Bumrah special)," said Pant. "How accurate he is, the way his mind works, I think he is just an amazing man. I think it's more difficult for the wicket-keeper behind the wicket than for a batsman, I guess. Especially in England (the movement he gets)."
Pant has also opened up on flat wickets so far in England. He said that the way England play cricket, they need a good wicket for batting eventually.
"See, the same thing was discussed that the wickets will be good in England. Because the way they play cricket, they need a good wicket for batting eventually. So we had the same thing that how can we take out 20 wickets in a good wicket. Shubhman was also talking about 20 wickets. So that thought was already planned, that eventually batters have to step up. Because though our seniors are not very big players, like I said, this is the opportunity to step up. And people are doing that slowly, slowly," Pant said.
The five-Test match series between India and England is currently tied 1-1 as India registered a dominating 336 runs at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham. England have already announced their playing XI for the third Test. England speedster Jofra Archer also added in the playing XI after a long gap of four years. Archer's last Test outing came in February 2021 against India in Ahmedabad.
England Men's Test XI:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir.