‘What a bowler man’ – Virat Kohli caught saying on stump mic as Jasprit Bumrah runs through West Indies batting line-up

Jasprit Bumrah has been superlative, to say the least in the ongoing two-Test series between West Indies and India. After picking an amazing five-wicket haul in the second innings of the first Test match, which India won by a massive margin, Bumrah went one better in the second Test and picked a six-fer.

He is currently reveling in the accolades that he is receiving from former greats of the game like Sir Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Andy Roberts, Sir Curtly Ambrose, and Ian Bishop. All of them have lauded Bumrah for his amazing bowling on the West Indies pitches and for one-upping their own fast bowlers. He has become the go-to man for his captain Virat Kohli, who even showed his love for his fast bowler.

Bumrah- the third Indian to pick up a Test hat-trick

Jasprit Bumrah created history by picking up his first Test hat-trick by removing Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, and Roston Chase. He can credit his hat-trick victim to Kohli, who opted for DRS, despite no interest from Bumrah himself. In a chat after the day’s play, Bumrah was quoted as saying in a video that was posted by the BCCI, “I didn’t know, I was not very sure of the appeal, I thought it was the bat. I didn’t appeal so much but it was a good review, in the end, so I think I owe that hattrick to the captain.”

Bumrah has kept Kohli and slip-catching fielders always on their toes. Kohli couldn’t contain himself, as Bumrah got a wicket, by making the batsman edge behind the stumps and while running near the stump-mics, Kohli was heard hearing “What a bowler man!”. Bumrah ended up figures of 6/27 as West Indies crumbled for 117 all out.

“The captain’s confidence gives you a lot of self-belief. When you bowl, you can express yourself, you can try whatever you want to do. That gives you a lot of confidence, not only me but each and every bowler is being backed by him so much. As a bowling unit, we are very happy and then we have the freedom to do what we want,” Bumrah added.

Meanwhile, India opted against giving the follow on and batted in the second innings, the top order failed once again, while Mayank making 6, Rahul failing in his fourth consecutive innings after getting out for 4 and Kohli getting out for a golden duck. Pujara made 27, Rahane made 64* and Vihari followed his first-innings century with a score of 53* as India declared for 168/4 and set West Indies a target of 468 runs.

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