Jasprit Bumrah put up a special exhibition of reverse swing on a flat deck after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maiden double hundred to bowl out England for 253 in their first innings.
Jasprit Bumrah put up a special exhibition of reverse swing on a flat deck after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maiden double hundred to bowl out England for 253 in their first innings and put India ahead in the second Test in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. India tallied 396 all out in their first innings after starting day two at 336 for six. Jaiswal (209 off 290) became the third youngest double centurion from India in the morning session and was the sole shining light in an otherwise grim batting effort.
In response, England were bowled out in 55.5 overs in the final session to concede a 143-run first innings lead to India.
Needing to bat five overs before stumps on day two, India were unscathed at 28 for no loss in their second innings. England began aggressively courtesy Zak Crawley (76 off 78) before Bumrah halted their charge with a masterclass in reverse swing that resulted in his 10th five-wicket haul. He ended with figures of six for 45 in 15.5 overs, his best in India.
He also became the second fastest Asian fast bowler after Pakistan’s Waqar Younis to complete 150 scalps.
Joe Root (5), Ollie Pope (23), Jonny Bairstow (25) and England skipper Ben Stokes (47) were victims of Bumrah’s brilliance. The 30-year-old also completed 150 wickets in the process. Kuldeep Yadav, playing his first game of the series, supported Bumrah with three wickets. R Ashwin could not get a wicket while second pacer Mukesh Kumar was taken to the cleaners.
India have managed to gain advantage but will need to bat well on day three as no total can be considered safe against the ‘Bazball’ driven England side. The pitch is gradually deteriorating with the odd ball keeping low or bouncing extra.
On either side of the afternoon and evening session, watching Bumrah go about his business was a sight to behold.
Everytime there was a partnership developing, Rohit Sharma turned to Bumrah and he did not disappoint his skipper.
He removing Root and Pope in a searing spell gave India much needed momentum after Crawley attacked the home team spinners to ensure England reached 155 for four at tea.
Bumrah put Root in his two minds by mixing the in and away swinger, leading to his downfall. Root was protecting his pads expecting an inswinger but Bumrah got the ball to move away from the fourth stump, inducing an outside edge. The lead India pacer’s ball to dismiss Pope was even more special, a fast reversing yorker to which the England number three had no answer to. It was a ‘banana in-dipper’ that tailed from the fifth stump at a fair clip and England’s first Test hero failed to bring his bat down in time.
Bumrah accounted for Bairstow, Stokes, Tom Hartley and James Anderson in the final session. His ball to Bairstow was similar to Root’s and outcome was another catch to Shubam Gill at first slip.
Hartley (21) and Ben Stokes (47) frustrated the Indians with a 47-run stand for the eighth wicket until Bumrah breached the England skipper’s defense. For the second game in a row, Stokes was left shell shocked by Bumrah’s magic.
Kuldeep too played his part well and had Ben Duckett (21 off 17) caught at silly point shortly after the lunch break.
In the initial part of the second session, Crawley displayed brute force to put pressure on the opposition. He nonchalantly slog swept Kuldeep for a six to bring up his fifty before handing out similar treatment to R Ashwin later.
Birthday boy Crawley targeted Axar Patel as well but after hitting his first ball for a four, the opener mistimed one aerial shot to be caught by Shreyas Iyer, who took a brilliant catch running backwards from backward point.
In the morning, India added 60 runs to their total before getting all out in 112 overs with little over 30 minutes left for lunch. As was the case on day one, India had to rely on Jaiswal (209 off 290) to get the majority of the runs. No other Indian batter even crossed 40.
The celebrations were euphoric for a dedicated cricketer who slept in tents at Azad Maidan in Mumbai in his growing up days, having come to the metropolis from a nondescript village in Uttar Pradesh.
Besides Jaiswal, the star of the session was 41-year-old James Anderson who produced another masterclass in seam bowling on a flat surface.
In his relentless eight-over spell, Anderson got the ball to move both ways from a wobbled seam. Even for a well-set Jaiswal, his spell was too hot to handle.
The old horse removed R Ashwin (20) with a peach that straightened from middle stumps and took the outside edge of the bat. Thinking the ball had only brushed his right thigh, Ashwin took the DRS but ended up wasting it.
Running out of partners, Jaiswal decided to attack Anderson as well resulting in a catch at deep cover
The young Shoaib Bashir opened the bowling alongside Anderson and ended up bowling 10 overs in the session. The offie removed number 11 Mukesh for his third wicket of the innings.
