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Jasprit Bumrah Avoids Talking About Dukes Ball: “I Don’t Want To Lose My Match...”

Rajgeeta Yadav

Jasprit Bumrah [Source: AP Photos]Jasprit Bumrah [Source: AP Photos]

India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah chose not to comment on the quality of the Dukes ball after Day 2 of the third Test against England at Lord’s. This is because, earlier in the day, there was a disagreement between Indian captain Shubman Gill and the umpires when India wasn’t happy with the replacement ball they were given.

To begin with, Day 2 of the ongoing third Test in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 saw both England and India continuing to battle it out. England star batter Joe Root was close to a century when the day started, and India was eager to wrap up the innings quickly.

As the match went on, Bumrah stood out once again with an excellent performance. He bowled 27 overs, gave away 74 runs, and took five important wickets. But what caught everyone’s attention even more was the repeated changing of the Dukes ball.

Jasprit Bumrah Keeps His Cool During Press Meet

Interestingly, the first ball of the day had to be changed early because it lost its shape. After that, the replacement ball wasn’t much better and was changed again after just 48 deliveries.

When asked about this in the post-day press conference, Bumrah chose his words carefully. He said,

"The ball changes, I don't really control that. Obviously, I don't want to lose out on money because I work very hard and play a lot of overs. So, I don't want to say any controversial statements and get my match fees deducted. But we were bowling with the ball that we were given. And that's how it is. We can't change it. We can't fight it. Sometimes it goes your way. Sometimes you get a bad ball. That's how it is."

Meanwhile, thanks to Bumrah’s 5-wicket haul, England was bowled out for 387 runs. He received support from Mohammed Siraj and Nitish Kumar Reddy, who took two wickets each. Even though England got some runs from Jamie Smith (51) and Brydon Carse (56) towards the end, India managed to keep them in check.

As the day ended, India’s score stood at 145/3, with KL Rahul (53 not out) and Rishabh Pant (19 not out) at the crease. 

However, they still trail by 242 runs going into Day 3. Earlier, Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for just 13 runs, but Rahul’s steady batting helped India fight back.