“Fate had decided 99 for him” - Jasprit Bumrah’s massive claim on England star after Day 3 of ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

Team India pacer Jasprit Bumrah gave his verdict on England batter Harry Brook agonisingly missing out on his ton on Day 3 of the first Test at Headingley in Leeds. The right-arm speedster believes fate had decided for him to only get 99 runs in the innings, but credited the Yorkshire batter for the way he played.

The right-hander batter's wicket came in the 88th over of the innings when right-arm pacer Prasidh Krishna returned for a spell. Brook started the over at 97 and took a brace on the very first ball, followed by a dot. However, he holed out a short-pitched delivery from Krishna to deep backward square leg, where Shardul Thakur took a comfortable catch.

Speaking after the day's play, Bumrah, who took five wickets, acknowledged that teams have to be spot on while bowling to Brook and hopes for Team India to fare better against him in the second innings. He said, as quoted by The Guardian:

"I think fate had decided 99 for him. Not to take any credit from him, he played really well. He plays an aggressive style of cricket, but he can play an aggressive shot and sometimes he can shut up shop as well and try to negate if someone is bowling a good spell. You have to be really accurate and really clear in your plans here because if you are a little wayward run-scoring becomes very quick. So full credit to him, he played really well. We’ll try to hopefully have better plans and try to negate his plans in the next innings."

The 31-year-old would have had Brook's wicket late on day two itself when he had him caught with a short-pitched delivery. However, Bumrah had bowled a front-foot no-ball. Brook's innings of 99 helped the hosts reach 465, whittling down India's lead to only six runs.

"It can be difficult as a bowler to find rhythm" - Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah. (Image Credits: Getty)

Bumrah went on to back the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj, claiming that the unique nature of English grounds takes time for the bowlers to adapt. He added:

"Mostly in India we are used to playing on simple, flat grounds that are not slopey. One side is up, one side is down and it’s a little tricky sometimes because you start from a place up high, then it goes steep, and then you go back up. So it can be difficult as a bowler to find rhythm."

The tourists hold a 96-run lead heading to day three.