Jasprit Bumrah, who was not at his best in the first innings, looked rusty after the break he was given post the World Cup. However, the fast-bowler was at his best when the ball was tossed to him in the second innings. West Indies were set a target of 419, but Bumrah wanted to seal the issue quickly.
He started West Indies's slide by getting rid of Kraigg Brathwaite in the very first over and in a heartbeat, the hosts were reduced to 15 for 5. Bumrah picked up 5 wickets in his first eight overs and gave away just seven runs. With this effort, the fast-bowler became the first bowler from India as well as from Asia to bag a 5-wicket haul in Australia, England, South Africa and West Indies. He has remarkably achieved the feat in just his first set of tours.
West Indies were bundled out for 100
West Indies could never recover from these jolts as they were sent packing for a paltry 100 runs and thus, India started their campaign in the World Test Championship with an emphatic win by 318 runs.
Speaking at the end of the match, Bumrah credited the pressure created by the bowling unit and also spoke about how they stuck to their plans at all times. He also spoke about the wind and how they took advantage of its direction.
"Feeling good and we built pressure as a bowling unit which was nice. We used the breeze to our advantage and stuck to our plans. Lot of hard-work and practice goes into that (about bowling the outswinger). I always had the inswinger but the more I played the more confident I got," Bumrah said.
Bumrah was superb in England and he conceded that playing with the Dukes ball in England gave him a lot of confidence and it helped him try new things here in this match. And as has been the case with him, he forever wants to learn and grow and is now looking ahead at the challenges at hand.
"Playing with the Dukes ball in England helped me a lot too. It has helped my confidence. Always trying to evolve as a bowler and always trying to do new things and when the ball is not swinging maybe try and use the seam to get the movement. Lot of communication goes between the bowlers and sometimes you just need to hit good areas and everything else will follow," the fast-bowler said.
