Ashwin opens up on what happened between Bumrah and Anderson on Day 4 of Lords Test 

Sparks flew between a few of the England and India players during the second Test match at Lord’s Cricket Stadium. At the forefront of it were veteran seamer James Anderson and Jasprit Bumrah. It all started when the latter dished a few bouncers to the former.

 The on-field banter continued on days four and five as Virat Kohli and Anderson too exchanged few words. Bumrah also had a go at Buttler before Kohli again got into the action when he kept sledging the wicketkeeper-batter and pacer Ollie Robinson when they were battling hard to save the Test. Of all the duels, the Bumrah vs Anderson one hogged the major limelight.

 With Anderson looking to add few runs with skipper Joe Root for company, Bumrah kept steaming in and kept hitting Anderson on his head. The England pacer didn’t like how Bumrah kept bowling him with nasty bouncers. As the players were heading back to the pavilion on day four, Bumrah patted Anderson on the back but Anderson was in no mood to accept the friendly gesture and exchanged a few words with him.

Now reports have emerged of what exactly transpired between the duo. "The thing was, Jimmy was like, ‘Hey mate! Why are you bowling so fast? Am I doing the same to you?’. The beauty about that is, looks like Jimmy had told Boom (Bumrah), ‘All this while, you were bowling in 80 m/h; suddenly on seeing me, why are you bowling in 90 m/h?’," Ashwin told India fielding coach R Sridhar on the spinner’s YouTube channel.

Ashwin further opined that he was shocked by how Anderson reacted to Bumrah by being aggressive and upfront. "What was surprising to me what that kind of question. I agree, maybe he was shaken. Getting hit on the helmet is definitely not easy and, I empathize with him, but still, that kind of a statement coming from Jimmy was a surprise to me."