Up went Jasprit Bumrah’s arms in the air, his head tilted a little back. Another England wicket had fallen. That shy smile appeared on his bearded face, again.
Bumrah was sensational. His stunning spell of reverse swing swung the balance of the second Test towards India at the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium on Saturday.
Batting a second time, India finished at 28 for no loss at stumps on the second day – that is a lead of 171. In reply to India’s first innings score of 396, which was basically a solo effort from the double-centurion Yashashvi Jaiswal, England could only make 253.
The Englishmen may have been looking at a better score than that when Zak Crawley (76, 78b, 11x4, 2x6) and Ben Duckett gave them another brisk start. The dashing duo had added 59 when Duckett was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav, who was playing his first Test since December 2022, with a ball that turned and took an edge to silly point.
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Crawley, however, was looking in ominous touch. He was involved in another promising partnership, with Ollie Pope for the second wicket.
But Crawley, while trying to hit Axar Patel out of the ground after stepping out, was out to a brilliant catch by Shreyas Iyer, who ran several yards back from backward point and timed his dive perfectly.
A little later, the Bumrah show began.
The Indian pace spearhead had earlier been hit for fours in an over by Crawley, something you usually don’t get to see. He was brought back into the attack when Joe Root walked out to the middle. Root once again was undone by his nemesis.
Bumrah made him edge to slip, where Shubman Gill took the first of his four catches. Then, in his very next over, Bumrah produced a gem to remove Pope, who scored a monumental 196 in England’s come-from-behind victory at Hyderabad. On this day, the England vice-captain had no answer to the devastating yorker: his leg and middle stumps were knocked out of the ground.
Jonny Bairstow and captain Ben Stokes (47, 54b, 5x4, 1x6) managed to weather the Bumrah storm for a while. But the 30-year-old Gujrat bowler accounted for both of them, as he became the fastest Indian bowler to take 150 first Test wickets.
This is his 34th Test and it was with a beauty that he created the milestone. All Stokes could was express his helplessness, rather eloquently with both hands, after being bowled by one that shaped in late.
Bumrah finished with six for 45 from 15.5 overs. It was not just his best figures at home, but one of the finest exhibitions of pace bowling in India, on what was a batting track.
Earlier, India resumed at 336 for six with Jaiswal unbeaten on 179. While on 191, he slog-swept Shoaib Bashir for a six over square-leg and then for a four off consecutive balls to reach his double hundred.
His extraordinary knock (209, 290b, 19x4, 7x6) was ended by James Anderson, who also presented a masterclass of pace bowling in these challenging conditions.
Anderson would, however, be overshadowed by Bumrah.
Scoreboard
India 1st Innings: Yashasvi Jaiswal c Bairstow b Anderson 209 Rohit Sharma c Pope b Shoaib Bashir 14 Shubman Gill c Foakes b Anderson 34 Shreyas Iyer c Foakes b Hartley 27 Rajat Patidar b Rehan Ahmed 32 Axar Patel c Rehan Ahmed b Shoaib Bashir 27 Srikar Bharat c Shoaib Bashir b Rehan Ahmed 17 Ravichandran Ashwin c Foakes b Anderson 20 Kuldeep Yadav not out 8 Jasprit Bumrah c Root b Rehan Ahmed 6 Mukesh Kumar c Root b Shoaib Bashir 0 Extras: (LB-1, NB-1) 2
Total: (All out in 112 overs) 396
Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-89, 3-179, 4-249, 5-301, 6-330, 7-364, 8-383, 9-395, 10-396
England bowling: James Anderson 25-4-47-3, Joe Root 14-0-71-0, Tom Hartley 18-2-74-1, Shoaib Bashir 38-1-138-3, Rehan Ahmed 17-2-65-3.
England 1st Innings: Zak Crawley c Iyer b Patel 76 Ben Duckett c Patidar b Kuldeep Yadav 21 Ollie Pope b Bumrah 23 Joe Root c Shubman Gill b Bumrah 5 Jonny Bairstow c Shubman Gill b Bumrah 25 Ben Stokes b Bumrah 47 Ben Foakes b Kuldeep Yadav 6 Rehan Ahmed c Shubman Gill b Kuldeep Yadav 6 Tom Hartley c Shubman Gill b Bumrah 21 James Anderson lbw b Bumrah 6 Shoaib Bashir not out 8 Extras: (B-7, LB-1, NB-1) 9
Total: (All out in 55.5 overs) 253
Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-114, 3-123, 4-136, 5-159, 6-172, 7-182, 8-229, 9-234.
India bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 15.5-5-45-6, Mukesh Kumar 7-1-44-0, Kuldeep Yadav 17-1-71-3, Ravichandran Ashwin 12-0-61-0, Axar Patel 4-0-24-1.
India 2nd Innings: Yashasvi Jaiswal batting 15 Rohit Sharma batting 13 Extras: Nil
Total: (For no loss in 5 overs) 28
England bowling: James Anderson 2-0-6-0, Shoaib Bashir 2-0-17-0, Rehan Ahmed 1-0-5-0.
