With the Indian team management deciding prior to the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy about Jasprit Bumrah playing only in three Tests in the series, it was a certainty that the 31-year-old wouldn’t feature in more games, irrespective of the situation.
Bumrah finished the series with 14 wickets, being the fourth highest wicket-taker in the series with Mohammed Siraj being the leading wicket-taker of the series with 23 wickets. But with Bumrah playing in the opening Test at Leeds, third Test at Lords and fourth Test at Manchester with India losing at Leeds and Lord’s and a draw at Manchester, Bumrah did not feature in a winning Test for India. Former Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin has hailed India’s bowling talent and has called out that Bumrah ‘did not win a Test match’.
“India, they can take a lot out of this that they still can play without Bumrah (Jasprit). Life goes on. The other bowlers find a way. They have got so much talent over there in India. But he didn’t win a Test match. Siraj stood up when he had to. His workload has been just as big but India were under pressure starting the tournament (Series) because their Test cricket hasn’t been great And Gambhir.. If they did not win the last test, I reckon he is under the pump,” Haddin said on Youtube podcast Willow Talk.
With Siraj being the highest wicket-taker in the series with a total of 23 wickets, it also meant that the Indian pacer made a number of records for India during the final Test, where he took a total of nine wickets including a five-wicket haul in England’s second innings. The Hyderabad bowler became only the eighth opposition bowler to take five wickets in the fourth innings at The Oval against England in a Test match with West Indies legend Michael Holding being the last one to do so with his five wicket-haul in 1984. It was also the first time that an opposition bowler took nine wickets or more at The Oval after Shane Warne’s 12-wicket haul at The Oval in 2005. Haddin praised Siraj for his monumental effort. “I think Siraj likes being the leader of the attack. He is one of those guys that he wants the ball in big situations. Yes, he makes mistakes, but he doesn’t shy away from wanting the occasion. If you have players like that who aren’t afraid to make mistakes, who can get under the skin of opposition because of the way that they want to be in the game, they are the guys you want. He wanted the ball in that last hour of play. There’s no way in the world he didn’t want to bowl every over to win the game,” added Haddin.
The former Australian wicket-keeper also praised Indian captain Shubman Gill for his captaincy as well his form. Gill amassed 754 runs in ten innings at an average of 75.40 in the series. “I like (Shubman) Gill’s style. His batting shows that and we have seen that in the IPL actually that the captaincy does not affect his batting, which is a really really good sign. Captaincy, he is going to go and grow into it. He made some tactical moves that were good. There, where he was a little bit behind the game but there is a lot of life in this Indian cricket team,” Haddin said.
