It was the 12th day of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar 2025 trophy between England and India, and it was not a rare day when the Dukes ball didn’t grab the center stage of the five-match series. India’s premier pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, however, refused to comment on the change of the Dukes balls at Lord’s, which didn’t satisfy the tourists and their captain, Shubman Gill.

The Gujarat pacer expressed that he hadn’t had a clear memory of the ball being changed during the two previous tours of England in 2018, and 2021, or the two World Test Championship finals he played at Southampton against New Zealand or at the Kennington Oval against Australia. But he refused to make any comment on the balls for fear of losing out on money.

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“The ball changes, I don't control that. I don't really want to lose out on money because I worked very hard, I bowled a lot of overs, so I don't want to say any controversial statement and get my match fees deducted. But we were bowling with the ball that we were given, and that's how it is. We can't change it; we can't fight it. Sometimes it goes your way [and] sometimes you get a bad ball, that's how it is.” Bumrah explained.

“I don’t want to say any controversial statement”- Jasprit Bumrah on Dukes ball-change

The incident happened on the eighth over of the second morning, by which the Indian side, or more specifically Bumrah, had already sent back England captain, Ben Stokes, centurion Joe Root, and Chris Woakes, who had celebrated a century in 2018 against India at the same venue. But the visitors complained that the umpires of the ball getting out of shape.

As the umpires followed the rule, after checking, they gave the Blue Brigade a different ball. But Gill wasn’t happy with that. He felt that it didn’t look like a 10-over old hard delivery that they were using before. Mohammed Siraj also complained about the seam part of the ball to the umpires.

A few days ago, the Dukes ball maker reckoned that the bowlers have found a new excuse for the ball losing shape. He felt that because of the heavy bats, the problem had been occurring. The maker also suggested that the ICC should allow the second new ball after the 60th or 70th over instead of the 80th over to make the process.