England vs India: KL Rahul lauds Jasprit Bumrah's bowling effort, calls him a match winner

The 1st England vs India test match at Trent Bridge ended in a disappointing draw as the final day was washed due to the rain. India made a great start to the series with bowlers dominating the England batting lineup in both innings. Virat Kohli surprised everyone by fielding four fast bowlers in form of Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, and Mohammad Siraj and the pacers responded to his call by picking up wickets in both innings.

Jasprit Bumrah dominated England's batting lineup and ended up with 9 wickets in total in two innings. In the first Innings, Bumrah picked up four wickets, while in the second innings he came up with a five-wicket haul to put India in control of the match. Team India opener KL Rahul was full of praise for his teammate after his fantastic performance in the ENG vs IND 1st Test. 

England vs India: KL Rahul on Jasprit Bumrah's performance 

Jasprit Bumrah had a tough time picking up wickets in the home series against England as well as the WTC Final against New Zealand. The pacer however silenced the concerns raised about his wicket talking ability with a great performance in the 1st match of the IND vs ENG test series. While the fans were full of praise for the India pacer on his terrific comeback, KL Rahul on the other hand failed to understand why his (Bumrah) nine-wicket match haul against England is being perceived as a "comeback" for the Indian speedster.

While speaking during the press conference Rahul expressed his surprise over the question regarding Bumrah's comeback. He said,  "Sir, I don't know why you are saying that (Jasprit) Bumrah has made a comeback. Every time, in every game, in every condition he has proved himself and he is our number one bowler. We are happy that he is doing what he is (has) been doing since he started playing Test cricket. Wherever he has played, he has been a match-winner for us. We are happy that he has done once again, what he does best,".

KL Rahul also lauded the other pacers for their brilliant bowling effort in which they managed to bowl out England twice. He said, "The way we bowled in the first innings and the discipline that we showed after losing the toss and bowling first (was a takeaway). It felt like team which won the toss had an advantage and we bowled with a lot of discipline. How Mohammed Shami and Bumrah started and how Shardul (Thakur) and Mohammed Siraj continued, how all of them worked together and bowled in the right channels. We saw there were a lot of misses but the way they stuck to their plans was great to see and they got the rewards," the soft-spoken opener explained".

IND vs ENG Test series

The second match of the IND vs ENG Test series will be hosted by Lord's from August 12-16. After a gap of almost 10 days, the two teams will be back in action for the third game at the Emerald Headingley from August 25-29. The final two Tests (September 2-6 & 10-14) will be held at London's Kia Oval and the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester respectively.