Lagatar24 desk
Birmingham, July 2: The most expensive over in Test cricket came on the second day of the fifth Test match between India and England at Edgbaston on Saturday. His innings cost 35 runs.
India’s captain, Jasprit Bumrah, scored 29 of those runs, including three fours and two sixes, breaking Brian Lara’s previous record of 28 runs against Robin Peterson of South Africa in 2003. That over also held the record for being the most expensive in Test cricket before Bumrah’s explosions on Saturday.
The opening delivery was a bouncer that Bumrah got a top edge on for a four at fine-leg, followed by Broad’s bouncer going over wicketkeeper Sam Billings for five wides. Bumrah top-edged a draw over third man for six and off a no-ball because Broad overstepped to score seven runs off the third ball.
Following a full toss through midfield, Bumrah inside-edged a four to fine leg before slamming one to the square leg boundary and getting run out. The following delivery was hit for a six by Bumrah over deep backward square leg, making it the most costly over in Test cricket history. On the penultimate ball, Bumrah retrieved a yorker and hared for a single, providing Broad with some much-needed relief.
As India was all out for 416 with Bumrah still unbeaten on 31 off 16 balls, James Anderson completed his 32nd five-wicket haul (5 for 60) in Test cricket by dismissing No. 11 Mohammed Siraj.
A less than impressive addition to Broad’s résumé was the 35-run record he oversaw on Saturday. Broad also has the record for bowling the joint-most expensive over in T20 internationals. At the 2007 T20 World Cup in Durban, India’s Yuvraj Singh destroyed England’s pacer for 36 runs in one over (6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6). Kieron Pollard gave Sri Lanka’s Akila Dananjaya a similar treatment in 2021, smashing six sixes in the same number of balls in one over.
