ENG vs IND: Jasprit Bumrah becomes sixth Indian to scalp 100 Test wickets in SENA nations

Jasprit Bumrah, India’s stand-in skipper in the ongoing Test at Edgbaston, reached a new milestone on Monday (July 4) by becoming the sixth Indian bowler to scalp 100 wickets in Test cricket’s SENA countries. At the end of a ferocious spell on day four of the postponed fifth Test match against England, Bumrah dismissed England’s opening batter Zak Crawley to reach the mark.

36 wickets in England, 32 in Australia, six in New Zealand, and 26 in South Africa, the country where he played his maiden Test match, constitute his 100+ SENA wickets. The other Indian bowlers with 100 or more in SENA nations in Test cricket are Kapil Dev, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami, and Anil Kumble.

Most wickets by Indians in SENA countries: 

In the second session, Bumrah dismissed Crawley to end a strong and speedy opening partnership of 107 runs. Significantly, England got off to a brilliant start in their quest of 378 runs thanks to a quickfire century-stand from openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley. After returning from the tea break, Bumrah took charge of the new ball and went on to remove Ollie Pope for a duck.

India’s quest to defend 378 runs

India had earlier finished their second innings with a score of 245 runs, giving England a 378-run target. As for the visitors, the batters were not able to continue their form from the first innings as only Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant could manage to get a half-century.

Indian batters could not withstand English skipper Ben Stokes’ wrath as he finished with 4/33. For India to win the series, they need to either win the match to end the series at 3-1 or draw the game so as to keep their 2-1 lead intact. But England players are in this game with just one motive, which is to win it and it was clearly visible after seeing the openers get back in form in the final innings to give a flying start to the team. If England win the game, the series will end in a stalemate and the skippers will share the title.