Anderson sympathises with Broad, who delivered costliest Test over

Stuart Broad gave away 35 runs in an over on Saturday, making it the costliest in the history of Test cricket. India captain Jasprit Bumrah hit 29 runs from bat and the other six came as extras (five wides, one no ball). The English pacer, who was hit for six maximums in an over by Yuvraj Singh in the 2007 T20 World Cup, was left stunned as India posted 416 runs in the first innings. 

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Broad is England’s second most-successful bowler in Tests with 550 scalps against his name. James Anderson, who picked a fifer vs India in the first innings, leads the list. 

Anderson showed some sympathy for his compatriot, saying the 35-run over was result of some bad luck. The 39-year-old himself conceded 28 runs in an over, when Australia’s George Bailey smashed him at the WACA Ground in Perth in 2013. 

Also read: Brian Lara reacts after Bumrah breaks his 19-year-old record in Birmingham Test

“On another day one of those top edges goes straight to hand. If that gets taken nobody talks about the over. I thought it was pretty unlucky. There’s plenty of top edges, a couple of good shots but that’s the plan (captain) Ben (Stokes) wanted Broady to go with. Broady stuck to it and on another day when the luck was with Stuart an edge probably would have gone to hand,” James Anderson said. 

England dominated India in the initial part of the first innings. The hosts were reduced to 84/5 when Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja joined hands. The two scored centuries and shared a record partnership of 222 runs for the sixth wicket. While the former scored 146, the latter came back with 104 runs against his name. 

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England, in their first innings, were soon reduced to 83/5 after an inspiring spell by skipper Jasprit Bumrah at the top. They lost Ben Stokes for 25 on Day 3. However, Jonny Bairstow kept attacking the Indian bowlers and brought his century in 119 balls. 

“I’ve got a fair feeling our best line of defence will be attack. The way we’ve got ourselves out of sticky situations in the last few weeks has been by trying to put pressure back on the opposition, and I don’t see this being any different. We want to score, we want to move the game forward, and that’s what we’ll try and do,” Anderson said.