Twitter loses its cool as Bumrah's no-ball costs India yet another wicket
What's the story?
In the fourth Test between India and England in Southampton, England won the toss and elected to bat first. Jasprit Bumrah opened the bowling for India and the bowler from Gujarat had a great start to his day as he picked up the wicket of the English opener, Keyton Jennings with a great inswinger in his second over.
Off the third ball of his very next over, Bumrah got the English captain, Joe Root plumb in front of the wickets but to his surprise, the umpire did not give the batsman out. A confident Bumrah asked Kohli to review the umpire decision and as the call was sent to the third umpire the wicket was ruled out at the very first go as Bumrah once again stepped over the bowling crease giving Root a life.
For all those who are wondering whether India will lose a review, the answer no. India will not lose the review as it was a no-ball.
In case you didn't know
After losing the first two Test matches to the home team, the Indian team came back strongly in the third Test and have registered a comprehensive win against England. The victory was much sweeter as India outclassed England in all three departments of the game. The Indian team came into this match with a lot of confidence after the emphatic win.
For the fourth time in the series, Virat Kohli called heads and lost the toss for the fourth time to Joe Root. The English team which chose to bat first made two changes to their playing XI and India for the first time under Virat Kohli's captaincy featured an unchanged XI.
Heart of the matter
Jasprit Bumrah bowling no-balls is not a new story. The talented bowler who is making a name for himself in the longest format has a history of picking up wickets off no-balls.
The latest incident one can remember occurred in the last match against England in which he should have got the wicket of Adil Rashid in the 87th over of the final innings. The wicket was canceled due to Bumrah's no-ball and the play extended to the fifth day as Adil Rashid, who was given a life by Bumrah, was unbeaten at the end of the day.
The other incident which the fans won't forget came in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final in England. Fakhar Zaman who edged one to MS Dhoni was saved by Bumrah's no-ball and the southpaw went onto score a match-winning century for Pakistan costing India the title.
Final say
Bowling no-balls once in a while is acceptable but bowling them on a regular basis cannot be taken lightly. In this match, the Indian team did not have to pay the consequences of the mistake as Joe Root got out for a measly score of 4 off Ishant Sharma's bowling.
After the fourth Test, the issue was expertly described by India's bowling coach Bharat Arun who said that "Jasprit Bumrah’s no-ball problems persist even as he gets stronger as a bowler, and that needs sorting before it proves costly."
Jasprit Bumrah is a world-class bowler in limited overs and he is proving that he can be a great asset even in the longest format of the game. If Bumrah's wants to the heights that he is capable of he must definitely sort out the no-ball issue for the better.
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