Jasprit Bumrah has proved to be the difference maker once again, as the pacer picked up five wickets to bring India back into the game after a flurry of dropped catches.
Chasing India's total of 471, England finished just six runs short due to a masterclass spell from one of India's mainstays in the bowling lineup.
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Fifties from Ben Duckett and Harry Brook and a brilliant ton from Ollie Pope ensured England closed the gap on India's total in the first innings. On a rather flat track, none of the bowlers apart from Bumrah had much success, as they all went for too many runs.
India needs Bumrah to stay fit for the majority of the series to have any chance of winning the Test series on English soil after 18 long years. However, the way Bumrah has been called upon every time things have not gone India's way, it is clearly evident that the pacer might face a burnout sooner or later.
Had Bumrah not delivered the five-star performance, England would have batted India out of the game a long time ago. Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly shared advice on how Bumrah can play all five matches in the Test series.
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Ganguly's advice on how Jasprit Bumrah can play all five Tests
The former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President took to social media to praise Bumrah's performance, which brought India back into the game after it seemed that England would comfortably go past India's target of 471. Check the tweet below.
Such a pleasure to watch Bumrah bowl in all formats of the game .. hope fully he will get support from the other end so that he can play 5 tests .. it will keep india in the series ..@bcci @Jaspritbumrah93
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) June 23, 2025
On his official X account, Ganguly wrote, "Such a pleasure to watch Bumrah bowl in all formats of the game. hope fully he will get support from the other end so that he can play 5 tests. It will keep India in the series."
Ganguly also asked for more urgency from the rest of the Indian bowling lineup to provide able support to Bumrah, so that he can rest well and is not overworked beyond his capacity which could prove to be costly in the upcoming matches.
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The Indian pacer faced a similar kind of issue in the previous Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), where he had to bowl extra overs to try and squeeze wickets, even when his body wasn't in the right condition, due to the inability of the other bowlers to take wickets in crucial junctures of the game.
For the unversed, both Bumrah and Gautam Gambhir had previously revealed that the pacer would play only three of the five match Test matches. India want to keep a keen eye on Bumrah's workload management and would not like a repeat of the incident in Australia, which ruled him out for months.