Jasprit Bumrah mentors Gurnoor Brar as India crush England in ODI thriller

Jasprit Bumrah’s sharp inputs on English conditions paved the way for Gurnoor Brar’s match-turning spell as India beat England by six wickets in the first ODI at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Brar’s opening burst of two wickets in the same over triggered a collapse that saw England slide from 61/0 to 80/5. Though Joe Root’s unbeaten 76 and Liam Dawson’s 63 lifted England to 258, India chased the target down in 45.2 overs thanks to Shubman Gill’s 80* (retired hurt) and an unbroken 102-run stand between Axar Patel (57*) and Washington Sundar (52*).

How Bumrah’s advice shaped Brar’s breakthrough

Brar revealed how Bumrah’s pre-match mentoring gave him the edge. Speaking in a BCCI video shared on X, he said: “During the two practice days, Jasprit bhai was bowling, and I asked him how to bowl on these wickets, how the ball behaves here, how the English batters attack, and what areas I should bowl in. He gave me a lot of inputs, which helped me a lot.”

Brar also singled out Bumrah’s stunning boundary catch to dismiss Ben Duckett. “As soon as the ball went up, I thought it would go for six. But it was a brilliant catch. It’s very tough on the boundary because you don’t know where to keep your feet. He judged it really well and caught it. I want to thank Bumrah for that second wicket,” Brar said.

What the coaches told the young pacer

Head coach Gautam Gambhir and bowling coach Morne Morkel kept Brar’s approach simple. “Both Gautam Sir and Morne Sir told me that what I’d done in the Afghanistan series and what comes naturally to me was to keep repeating my lengths and stay consistent. I wasn’t thinking too much. I just backed myself and challenged the batters,” Brar said.

Learning from the masters in real time

Brar treated mid-on as a live classroom during the match. “I was standing at mid-on while they were bowling and watching how they approached their spells, how the batters played them and how consistent they were with their line and length. They kept telling me ball by ball what I could do, so I just tried to keep hitting those areas,” he added.

The win at Edgbaston on 15 July 2026 marks India’s first ODI victory of the England tour, with Brar’s performance underlining the depth of India’s fast-bowling arsenal.