Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar reflected on India's ball change in the first session on Day 2 of the Lord's Test against England. The ball change has been a regular feature in the Test series between the two teams, with players often complaining about the Dukes ball getting out of shape.
India asked for a change of a ball that was only 10 overs old after being taken at the 80-over change period. The changed ball did not bring the desired results, as there was hardly any seam movement for the pacers.
On the contrary, the ball that the visitors took after 80 overs was doing enough. Jasprit Bumrah had torn through the English middle order, as he took three wickets in his two overs, including two in two balls.
With that ball going out of shape and the visitors needing a new nut, the bowlers did not get seam movement, which resulted in the English lower-order capitalising. Former India batter Manjrekar reflected on the ball change.
"For a young captain, it was a bit of a learning curve. After Bumrah got those early wickets, there was no need to look for a changed ball. India just got caught up a little bit in that, and because they weren't given the ball of their choice at the time, they may have just focused on the wrong thing for a while and the game slightly drifted away from them," Manjrekar said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Following the change of ball, the English batters found it easy to play through with hardly any seam movement on offer. Both Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse went on to slam fifties as they took the hosts from 271/7 to 387.
After the day's play, Bumrah also spoke on the ball changes. "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," Bumrah said in the press conference after day 2.
