'Everyone was wondering what captaincy would do to him' - Zaheer Khan lavishes massive praises on skipper Jasprit Bumrah

Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan has heaped praises on Jasprit Bumrah and other lower-order Indian batters for contributing with important runs. India were reeling at 98/5 while batting first against England in the ongoing fifth and final rescheduled Test match at Edgbaston. But middle-order batters Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja scored brilliant centuries to guide India to 416 runs in the first innings. Bumrah, at the number ten position, played a brilliant cameo, scoring an unbeaten 31 off 16 balls.

The 28-year-old pacer scored 29 runs in Stuart Broad’s 18th over and broke Brian Lara’s record for most runs scored in a single over of a Test match. Broad conceded 35 runs in that over which proved to be the most expensive over in Test cricket history. Bumrah’s knock could prove a crucial one as India won the Lord’s Test (2nd match) last year after Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah played crucial unbeaten knocks of 56 and 34 runs respectively. Zaheer also pointed out the importance of this knock and praised India’s lower-order batters for their recent contribution with the bat.

“The way Bumrah batted reflects the team’s positive mindset. The momentum is now with India. In this entire England series, the lower-order’s contribution, be it (Mohammad) Shami, (Shardul) Thakur or Bumrah, has been hugely significant. We had seen Bumrah do well at Lord’s as well. Not only him, all the Indian lower-order batters are trying to get better at their batting than where they are now,” Zaheer Khan told Cricbuzz.

The added responsibility has made Jasprit Bumrah more agile: Zaheer Khan

Meanwhile, the right-arm pacer is also captaining Team India in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma and his deputy KL Rahul. Bumrah’s heroics took fans down memory lane when former Indian batter Yuvraj Singh smashed Broad for 36 runs in 2007. Zaheer highlighted that Bumrah’s new role as a skipper has made him more agile.

“It was a hugely entertaining over. It was surprising that the bowler was Broad again. Bumrah whacking Broad reminded me of Yuvraj’s six sixes. Everyone was wondering what captaincy would do to Bumrah. The added responsibility seems to have made him more agile. The strike rate at which he scored those 30 runs was crucial,” he added.