Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin reveals what exactly happened between Jasprit Bumrah and James Anderson at Lord's
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Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up on what exactly happened between Bumrah and Anderson at Lord's.
Virat Kohli-led team won the second Test of the five-match series against England by 151 runs at Lord's. A match that witnessed some heated on-field verbal exchanges between the two sides and a few incidents were even caught by stump mics.
The most highlighted was the one between Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah and England's James Anderson. It started on Day 3 when Bumrah bowled some short balls to England's star pacer while he was batting. One of the bouncers even hit Anderson on his helmet.
It did not go well with the England pacer as the incident led to an exchange of some words between them that was captured on the cameras and it also continued when Bumrah came to bat on Day 5.
Now, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up on what exactly happened between Bumrah and Anderson at Lord's.
During a discussion with India's fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar on his YouTube channel, Ashwin revealed what went wrong and why Anderson was furious.
"The thing was, Jimmy was like, 'Hey mate! Why are you bowling so fast? Am I doing the same to you?'. The beauty about that is, looks like Jimmy had told Boom (Bumrah), 'All this while, you were bowling in 80mph; suddenly on seeing me, why are you bowling in 90mph?'," Ashwin said.
"So after the innings, the boys were walking back to the dressing room. Then, Bumrah walked past Jimmy and just patted at him, so as to tell him that it wasn't intentional. We all know Bumrah, he is such a nice guy. So he had gone to talk to him and end the matter, but Jimmy brushed him aside," R Sridhar explained.
"Brushing him aside, he told him, "You bowl only 85MPH to the other batters, you are bowling 90mph to me. This is cheating, I won't accept," he added.
Ashwin said, "The thing is, Jimmy could have stopped with asking why Bumrah bowled so fast at him. But he also left few words along with that (words that can't be disclosed on the show). That fired the boys up."
"Bumrah said he didn't even know what happened but all of us got together and told him what Anderson said to him and that riled us up," he added.
Sridhar also explained the unwritten rule amongst fast bowlers as he said, "Previously, there was this unwritten rule amongst fast bowlers: The fast bowlers club. While one is bowling to the other, thou shall not bowl bouncers, beamers and extremely quicker deliveries. Bowl full ones and get him out. An understanding."
"Now that the club is all gone. That building has been destroyed and now they have even built a new skyscraper there. That club is gone now. Now if you bat, I'll bowl fast at you. If you can, you do too mate! That kind of an attitude," he added.
India won the second Test to take a 1-0 lead in the series after the first match ended as a draw. India will play the third Test against England at Headingley in Leeds from August 25.