The India cricket team is truly blessed to have a bowler like Jasprit Bumrah in its midst. The pace spearhead constantly keeps reminding why he is arguably the world's best limited-overs bowler currently, with his telling blows to opposition batters. Bumrah did it yet again on Sunday evening, as he picked up the key wickets of England opener Dawid Malan and batting mainstay Joe Root off back-to-back deliveries to bring India roaring back into the contest at the 2023 ODI World Cup in Lucknow. England were tottering at 39/4 after 9.3 overs at the time of writing. (Match Blog | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
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Bumrah first had Malan chopping on to a good length delivery outside off stump, after coming round the wicket to the southpaw. The move clearly worked wonders as the angle got tighetr and Malan didn't get any width to cut, resulting in the manufactured false stroke. A pumped-up Bumrah followed it up with an absolute peach of an incoming delivery that trapped Root right in front and dead for all money. You can watch the video below.
Earlier, Indian batters struggled on a tricky surface to end up with a below-par but respectable total of 229/9 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. After being asked to bat to first by Jos Buttler, the Indian innings soon began to unravel. By the end of the 12th over, the hosts were three down with just 40 runs on the board.
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But skipper Rohit Sharma came up with a resilient and counter-attacking knock of 87 (off 101 balls) and along with KL Rahul (39 off 58), held the innings together. Later, Suryakumar Yadav (49 off 47) provided the final flourish to take India to a decent total. England, needing a win to keep their semi-final hopes alive, were given a new lease of life by the bowlers. David Willey led the attack brilliantly, taking three for 35. Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid also grabbed two wickets each.
