LUCKNOW: Cricket-crazy Indian fans have long enjoyed opposition fast bowling attacks that hunt in pairs — Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, Wasim Akram with Waqar Younis and most recently Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

But the cricketing powerhouse has now found its own deadly duo in Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, the men who rattled England’s batting at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium in the World Cup on Sunday.

The hosts extended their unbeaten run to six games in the tournament with a 100-run win over the defending champions to all but book their place in the semi-finals. Bumrah started the demolition job with wickets on successive deliveries in his third over to send back Dawid Malan, who inside edged a delivery on to his stumps, and Joe Root, out for lbw for a first-ball duck.

Shami soon joined forces as he bowled Ben Stokes for nought and then had Jonny Bairstow chop a length ball on to his wickets to also be on a hat-trick and raise the noise at a nearly-packed 50,000-seater stadium. “I am proud of the Indian team’s performance. Shami and Bumrah were outstanding. No other bowling pair can come close to these two. They are the best at the moment,” former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

“The four wickets taken by Shami and Bumrah in the first powerplay never allowed England to comeback into the game.” Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle said “it is high quality bowling from Bumrah and Shami”, while former England captain Michael Vaughan lauded India’s attack as “high class”.

Shami kept up the charge in his comeback spell when he sent back Moeen Ali caught behind on a angled ball from around the wicket to the left-hander as England slipped to 81-6 in their chase of 230.

Shami took one more and Bumrah completed the England rout with his trademark yorker that rattled the stumps of number 11 Mark Wood to trigger celebrations.

‘Fabulous’ spells

India bowling coach Paras Mambhrey said the pair set the tone for other bowlers to make an impact on a ground where evening dew makes it tough for bowlers to grip a wet ball. “In a game where we were placed defending a small target, the conditions were not easy, the dew was out there, the wicket got flatter,” Mambhrey told reporters.

“Wickets especially in the powerplay were important but simply the way they bowled and came back picked up those wickets laid the foundation for us. From there the other bowlers could build on. A fabulous spell from both of them.”

Bumrah, a yorker specialist with an unorthodox slingshot action, was sidelined for almost a year with a back injury before he returned in August and has now bagged 14 wickets six World Cup matches. Shami was kept out for India’s first four matches in a “horses for courses” policy but has come back with match-figures of 5-54 against New Zealand and 4-22 in two World Cup outings after an injury to all-rounder Hardik Pandya gave him a route back into the starting eleven.

“I think the decision the management took was looking at the right combination on that wicket and earlier also Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) missed out, Shami missed out,” said Mhambrey. “It is very difficult to take such a call but in the team’s interest you have to take a call. That’s the communication with the individual player has been, he knows that.” The 33-year-old Shami, a veteran of 96 ODIs, now has 23 wickets in his last six World Cup games since the 2019 edition. — AFP