India vs England: Bumrah does a Bumrah once again to hide India's batting frailties
India vs England: Bumrah does a Bumrah once again to hide India's batting frailties
Admin
Jasprit Bumrah is a phenomenon in world cricket. So much so that, it’s almost difficult to predict where Bumrah is going to bowl each ball. You would know how lethal and effective Bumrah could be with his yorkers. Ask the England batters. The English batting lineup, during Day 2 of the second Test in Visakhapatnam, were ripped apart on Saturday, almost single-handedly by one man, that is Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah would go onto finish with figures of 6/45 to swing the pendulum in India’s favour. But, it wasn’t just about providing India an advantage in the Test. It was more than that.
Bumrah does Bumrah things
The earlier part of Day 2 in Vizag was dominated by just one man — Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal registered his maiden Test double ton, but with his dismissal in the 107th over and India eventually being dismissed for 396, the focus quickly shifted to India’s bowlers.
There might have been a few concerns regarding India’s total — while Friday was a batting paradise as far as the pitch was concerned, the same cannot be said for Saturday. England spinners, Shoaib Bashir, Rehan Ahmed and Tom Harley combined to take seven wickets between them, and even in England’s first innings, the spinners weren’t absent from the limelight with Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel taking a combined tally of four scalps.
However, there was something about Bumrah’s accuracy and sharpness with the ball. He’s put up these kind of performances before, and he did it again on Saturday. Basically, it was just Bumrah doing Bumrah things in Vizag.
On Saturday, Bumrah hardly put any foot wrong. Much like James Anderson on Day 1, Bumrah ended as the most economical bowler (2.80) among all Indian bowlers. He did not give away even a single extra. Bumrah kept decimating the opposition batters with inswinging and outswinging yorkers on a pitch that is supposed to produce more turn for the spinners than swing for the pacers.
It, however, wasn’t an easy start for Bumrah by any means. Bumrah got hit by Crawley for three consecutive boundaries in the ninth over. This was at a stage when Crawley and Duckett were looking in good touch with the bat until the latter’s dismissal in the 11th over.
Despite this, Bumrah kept bowling tight lines and lengths in a bid to get that much-needed breakthrough courtesy his first wicket. In the 26th over, Bumrah finally broke through. After bowling a series of outswingers to Root initially, this time, Bumrah decided to trick Root into playing with the reverse swing. Root was in fact two minds whether to play the shot or not, but eventually found out the tough way, after nicking towards Shubman Gill at slip.
And to dismiss Ollie Pope, it was even more iconic. Once again, it was the reverse swing that was at play from Bumrah, only that this was a dangerous yorker that you could miss with the blink of an eye. The reverse swinging yorker from Bumrah landed at the core of middle and leg stump, making it unplayable for Pope to deal with the pacer.
Timber Striker Alert ????
A Jasprit Bumrah special ???? ????
Drop an emoji in the comments below ???? to describe that dismissal
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/X85JZGt0EV#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @Jaspritbumrah93 | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/U9mpYkYp6v
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 3, 2024
Fast forward to the 50th over, Bumrah entered the history books with the dismissal of England skipper Ben Stokes. The dismissal of Stokes was not only the fourth for Bumrah in this contest, but also he would become the fastest Indian to get to 150 Test wickets. Against Stokes, it was a length delivery from Bumrah that nipped back in and remained low. On this occasion, the ball flew under the edge of Stokes’ bat and just when Stokes could do something about it, Bumrah ensured that the sumps were sent flying, leaving the England captain overwhelmingly puzzled.
WATCH: Ben Stokes expresses helplessness after being cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah
It wasn’t over yet for Bumrah. The 30-year-old was hungry for more. In the first ball of 52nd over, Bumrah got hit for a boundary by Hartley, but in the very next ball, the pacer got his revenge. To dismiss Hartley, Bumrah unleashed a full length ball on off stump to Hartley, only for the latter to swing across the line and miss it completely, instead edging it towards Shubman Gill at first slip.
That was Bumrah’s 10th five-fer in Tests. Bumrah, the prime destroyer of this England batting lineup, then received a fitting way to wrap up the innings with the wicket of James Anderson, who was the last to depart. It was yet another full length ball from Bumrah that beat the inside edge before being eventually struck on Anderson’s backpad. It was as plumb as any lbw dismissal could get, and Anderson knew that there wasn’t any point in reviewing this.
Read | Don’t look at numbers, just very happy to play Test cricket: Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah has certainly added a new dimension to pace bowling with his lethal accuracy and skillset, but what makes him even more special is his ability to consistently bowl those desired line and lengths, and that too faultlessly. Only a few can master to do that consistently and Bumrah has proven that he is one of those bowlers.
Bumrah certainly showed what India possibly missed during the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in London last year. In a country like England where there’s a lot of swing and bounce on offer, Bumrah could have been at his deceptive best and that is what he showcased against England on Saturday. This was the perfect example of prime Bumrah, with the right-arm pacer doing things only he can do and even something that is almost difficult to master, like those toe-crushing yorkers.
So much so that, with Bumrah’s stellar display, the fact that Yashasvi Jaiswal accounted for almost more than half of the runs of India’s total was nearly forgotten. Jaiswal scored 209 during India’s first innings where they posted 396, and their next best batter was Shubman Gill (34). However, thanks to Bumrah’s display, the concerns regarding India’s batters not performing upto the expectations was put aside. But come Sunday, the India openers in Rohit Sharma (13 not out) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (15 not out) will have their task cut out once again.
