In order to face India’s best bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, captain Ben Stokes has underlined the importance of having unique game plans as the much awaited third Test between England and India approaches. Bumrah has been devastating in the current Test series, taking 15 wickets at an astounding average of 10.66.
During a news conference held prior to the game, Stokes praised Bumrah’s abilities, calling him a “unbelievable bowler” who has constantly produced exceptional performances. Stokes emphasized that even with Bumrah’s difficulties, English hitters must come up with a plan on how to get runs off the talented bowler.
“Jasprit Bumrah bowls with incredible skill. He has demonstrated this for a very long time and he has played both games exceptionally well. As India Today reported, Stokes stated, “I think everyone has their own way of trying to deal with Bumrah, but we do have to score runs off him as well, and that’s what we’ll try to do.”
Stokes reflected on the team’s strategy, talking about different tactics against bowlers and praising Bumrah’s excellent work. In order to counter Bumrah’s threat, he emphasized individual strategies and the team’s concentration on their own performance.
“However, you just have to give the bowler credit when it doesn’t work, and Jasprit Bumrah has been excellent in the first two games. There is no team strategy for playing any bowler; each of us has our own methods for dealing with each one. However, we’ll be attempting to maintain attention on us like we normally do,” he continued.
Jasprit Bumrah became the fastest Indian pacer to reach 150 Test wickets thanks to his brilliant performance in the second Test. However, Stokes downplayed the significance of completing his 100th Test, stating that he was keen for the presentation to end quickly so that cricket could take center stage.
“I am eager to finish the presentation so that I can focus on playing cricket.” Being able to participate in 100 tests is something I’m proud of because it’s a significant number of warm-ups. There’s one more game left, and perhaps many more to come. Wearing an England shirt has brought me both amazing and bad memories. The wonderful thing about professional sports is that.”
“I’ve managed to ensure that every day—good or bad—is a learning day. I’ll get more opportunity to reflect on all I’ve accomplished on the field later on, perhaps when I’m not playing and a little older,” he continued.
A reasonable assessment of the cricket played in the first two games is 1-1: Ben Stokes
Stokes said that the series’ current 1-1 score was a fair representation of the cricket that has been played thus far. In the future, he underlined the team’s resolve to play excellent cricket, thinking that if they play to the best of their abilities, wonderful things will happen.
“The cricket played in the first two games is fairly reflected in the score of 1-1. The main focus is on this game, then everything else. We will have a fair chance of winning if we play to the best of our abilities. The outcomes will take care of themselves if we play excellent cricket, stated Stokes.
Stokes and his side will have to work to keep England undefeated since he took over as captain in 2022 as they prepare for a pivotal match. Conversely, India aims to continue their unbeaten home Test series record that began in 2012. The captain is calling on his players to step up and take on Bumrah’s threat head-on, setting up an exciting duel in Rajkot.
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