BIRMINGHAM: India stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah on Tuesday blamed his side’s defeat to England in the rescheduled fifth Test here to the batting failure in the second innings, saying they let the match slip away from their hands after dominating major parts of it.
England rode on Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow’s majestic centuries to thump India by seven wickets and register their highest-ever successful run chase in Test cricket.
England overhauled the 378-run target in the morning session of the fifth and final day with Root and Bairstow remaining unbeaten on 142 and 114 respectively.
“That’s the beauty of Test cricket, even if you have three good days. We fell short with the bat yesterday and that is where we let the opposition in to let the match slip away from us,” Bumrah said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Ifs and buts can always be there. If you go back, if there was no rain in the first match, we could have won the series. But England played really well.”
England’s win meant that the five-match Test series, which spilled over to this year due to Covid-19 cases in the Indian camp last year, ended in a 2-2 draw.
“We have drawn the series and both teams played very good cricket and it was a fair result,” Bumrah said.
—PTI

Press Trust of India