Former England captain Michael Atherton opened up on Ben Stokes’ struggle against Jasprit Bumrah in the ongoing five Tests in India. The Indian speedster has already accounted for Stokes’ wickets twice in the first two Tests,. He had never dismissed Stokes in six Tests prior to the series but got him twice in the series so far. Atherton believes Stokes has not been able to pick up the pace of the ball against Bumrah.

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Talking to Sky Cricket, Atherton pointed out, “Picking with the speed of the ball is tough with him, and I’ve noticed with Stokes, even Stokes actually is an excellent player of fast bowling. He’s hurried with Bumrah.”

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He added, “He struggles to pick up the pace, and a couple of times when he’s got him, it looks as though the ball has kept low, which has but it also almost beaten him for pace as well. I think that’s the issue with Bumrah.”

Stokes has been among runs in the series but not been at his dominant best. He has 134 runs in four outings, with a best of 70 in the Hyderabad Test. Meanwhile, Bumrah is the leading wicket-taker of the series with 15 scalps under his belt. He won the Player-of-the-Match award in India’s series-levelling 106-run win in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. 

The Stokes versus Bumrah rivalry resumes in the third Test, which gets underway on Feb 15 in Rajkot. It will be interesting to see if the English captain manages to weather the Bumrah storm.

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