IND vs ENG | Was world-class bowing from Jasprit Bumrah, reveals Joe Root

Jasprit Bumrah was the most impressive bowler for the Indian team on the last day of the fourth Test match between India and England. His bowling figures at the end of the day read 2/27 from 22 overs playing a crucial role in a 157-run victory for the visitors. He provided crucial breakthroughs for India by dismissing Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow with two brilliant deliveries. Commenting on Bumrah’s performance, Root said that it was world-class bowling from the Indian pacer. He further added that the hosts need to bat well against reverse swing deliveries and be ruthless.

"We always look to get better, he's a superb bowler and at times we need to be realistic and accept that he bowled really well, that was world-class bowling. Have to manage better if we're in a similar situation in the near future, especially our game against reverse swing. Whenever we lose a game, we can always look back at the toss, we can always think about a few things and the way it happened, but at the end of the day, we need to be ruthless, should have got more than a 100-run lead," Root stated to Sky Sports in the post-match presentation. 

The last day of the fourth Test match against England turned out to be a historical day for the Indian cricket team. The 157-run victory is India’s first at The Oval in the last 50 years. Joe Root reckoned that the brilliant bowling performance displayed by the Indian bowlers took the game away from the hosts.

"It's frustrating, thought we'll get something from the game today, we had an opportunity of winning a Test match. The opening partnership was outstanding, credit to India, they got the ball to reverse. I thought Bumrah's spell was the real turning point of the game. From our side, we'll have to look at other areas where we missed opportunities, maybe we should have made more of an advantage with the first-innings lead and should have taken the chances that were offered," Joe Root revealed. 

The lack of big partnerships was one of the reasons behind England’s poor performance in the fourth innings. The England openers stitched a 100-run stand for the opening wicket, but other batsmen failed to build a partnership in the final innings. Reacting on how English batsmen batted, Root said that the team needs to work collectively as a batting unit and should convert starts.

“We needed that big hundreds, big partnerships - we need to play good cricket right around in Old Trafford, can't get complacent and get those big runs which sets up the game, which we did a week ago (in Headingley). You can pick out individuals, but need to work collectively as a batting group. Having got starts, you have to make those 20-30 runs count," asserted Root

Overall fielding and especially slip catching has been a worrying factor for the team in this series. English fielders are dropped chances in the slips on a regular basis. Rohit Sharma, the centurion in the fourth Test match was dropped by Rory Burns at the slip before he reached the three-digit score. The England skipper said that the hosts need to improve their slip catching standards. 

"We needed that big hundreds, big partnerships - we need to play good cricket right around in Old Trafford, can't get complacent and get those big runs which sets up the game, which we did a week ago (in Headingley). You can pick out individuals, but need to work collectively as a batting group. Having got starts, you have to make those 20-30 runs count," he concluded.