It Was Disclosed To Me That Anderson Abused Bumrah: Shardul On Pacers' Spat At Lords

Indian seamer Shardul Thakur has shed light on the famous on-field spat between Jasprit Bumrah and James Anderson that took place during the Lord's Test which then continued at The Oval as well.

In the second Test match, England speedster Anderson had to face a 10-ball over from Bumrah. The Indian pacer struck with a barrage of bouncers to Anderson in search of his first wicket of the match. Anderson survived the spell of Bumrah but eventually lost his wicket to Mohammed Shami.

"We were trying to attack Anderson. Something had happened during the Lord's Test and it was carried to The Oval. I was later told that Anderson said something to Bumrah which he shouldn't have, I was told they (England team) abused Bumrah. Those words cannot be said in public, so everyone got charged up after this," Shardul was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Anderson was specifically upset with the barrage of bouncers that Bumrah bowled at him in the Lord's Test. When it was Bumrah's turn to bat, England pacers targeted him with short-pitched deliveries too but the Indian handled the situation well alongside Shami.

Shardul further said that Indian tailenders are often targeted with such deliveries and hence, it's fair for them to target the opponent teams' lower-order batters with the same tactic too.

"When we go overseas, our tailenders also face bouncers. In Australia, Natrajan was bowled bouncers by Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins despite them knowing that this guy hasn't batted much even in First-Class cricket. So now when our opponents' tailender come to bat then why can't we bowl bouncers at him? Why shouldn't we bowl bodyline? We are not playing to please anyone. We are playing there to win," said the seamer.