We're happy with this score: Jasprit Bumrah

The Virat Kohli-led Indian team were coming into the fourth Test match with a sensational win in the previous game that lifted the spirits and brought back the belief in the players that they can win this series with inspirational performances. The first day of the fourth Test match in Southampton was a great day for the visitors as they were able to bowl out the England side for a total of 246 runs due to some superb bowling efforts from the Indian bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers as he bamboozled the English batsman with his lethal pace and picked up three wickets.

“After being 80-5 at one stage, they played to well for the recovery”

After electing to bat first, England team found themselves in an absolute daunting position when they were reduced to 36-4 within 18 overs. The top order which showed no major resistance thus far in the series, once again became the worrying factor for the hosts. Bumrah stated that they would have probably taken this score, if they were told about it in the morning at the toss, however, he also applauded the fightback by the hosts led by Sam Curran who played an amazing knock of 78 runs.

“If you’d told us in the morning that we’d get them out for 250, we’d have taken that any day. We had them 80 for five, but they played well too. You can’t be too greedy and expect too much: ‘Oh, they’re 80 for five, so you should get them out for 100.’ We’re happy with this score and if we bat well, it will help us going forward,” said Bumrah to the reporters after the closure of first day’s play.

There was a lot of seam movement at the start of the day

During the toss both Kohli and Joe Root mentioned that they wanted to bat first as it looked to be a better batting wicket and the former also noted that this is probably the best batting pitch seen in this series so far. However, the England team were absolutely blown away by the staggering fast bowling display by the Indian seamers.

Bumrah mentioned that there was a lot of movement at the start of the day, which they never expected. He noted that in helpful conditions like these, a bowler should stick to his basics which is what the Indian fast bowlers did on the first day of the Southampton Test match.

“When we started in the morning, there was a lot of seam movement and swing. We also wanted to bat first. So that (movement) was a little more than we expected. We thought there would be a little help but this was more than we expected,” he added.

“You don’t want to try too much in that case. It’s always better for the bowlers to stick to a line and length, and that helps you get wickets. As a bunch when you’re getting wickets, it’s always good. You can create pressure from both ends,” concluded the Indian fast bowler.

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