NEW DELHI: 'Cometh the hour, cometh the man' phrase perfectly suits India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as he picked up two wickets in two balls to give England denting blows early in the innings while defending a below-par total of 229 in the ICC World Cup match in Lucknow on Sunday.
The incident occurred during the fifth over of the England innings when Bumrah first cleaned up opener Dawid Malan on the penultimate delivery and then finished his over with a prized scalp of Joe Root for a golden duck.
Bumrah landed a short of a length delivery around off which skidded along the deck and Malan went for a square cut. But a thick inside edge undone Malan's stumps. India got the early wicket which they were looking for. Malan, who scored 16 off 17 balls with the help of 2 fours and a six, played some fine shots before going for this loose shot.
This time Bumrah pitched it slightly up and the ball kept a little low as Root got beaten due to the lack of bounce. He was rapped on the pads and the umpire's dreaded finger went up. Root took the review but the impact was in line and the ball was crashing into the stumps, leaving England tottering at 30/2 after 5 overs.
Earlier, skipper Rohit Sharma produced a special effort on a challenging pitch where the majority of Indian batters struggled, as the hosts were restricted to 229 for nine by England.
With India getting to bat first for the first time in the tournament, the batters got a good opportunity to set the target. It was, however, only Rohit (87 off 101) and Suryakumar Yadav (49 off 47) who found a way to bat on a two-paced wicket while the others perished trying to force the pace.
The 91-run partnership between Rohit and K L Rahul (39 off 58) stabilised the innings after India found themselves at 40 for three in the 12th over.
For England, Chris Woakes (2/33) impressed in his seven-over spell with the new ball while leggie Adil Rashid (2/35) continued to collect wickets in the middle overs. David Willey (3/45) too was effective.
