Captain Jasprit Bumrah impressed with a mesmerizing all-rounder performance that included a world record feat with the bat and a thrilling spell with the ball as India seized full control from rain-hit England on the second day of the rescheduled fifth Test here . Saturday. Such was the strength of Bumrah’s all-round performance (31 and 3/35 in 16 balls) in his first appearance as India captain that it easily surpassed Ravindra Jadeja’s scintillating third Test century, which gave India a commanding debut of 416. Reached the score of the innings.
England were in all sorts of trouble as half the team went back to the pavilion and the scoreboard posted 84 for 5 leaving the hosts 332 runs behind. In the first season, Stuart Broad must have had a sense of ‘deja vu’ when he was literally crushed by the stand-in Indian captain, who scored 29 with Willow and six extra runs to make him 35. were given. Sometimes in a single over in Test cricket.
In his first match as captain, Bumrah would have never thought that he would surpass Brian Lara’s maximum runs (28 runs) in an over in a Test match, which remained intact for 18 years. George Bailey and Keshav Maharaj, however, equaled the feat.
Broad cannot be blamed if he remembers the night of September 2007 in Durban, when Yuvraj Singh hit him for six sixes in an over. He got his 550th Test wicket on the same day, but by the end of it all, Bumrah had erased that smile from his face.
When England came to bat, the captain warmed up well and bowled a dangerous first spell and was rewarded for putting his “foot wrong” on two occasions for a change, resulting in extra deliveries that allowed him some Got wickets.
After two days of play, India scored all aces and did well to retain the Pataudi Trophy and make it to the final of the World Test Championship.
While India will next play a Test series against Bangladesh in December, the second day at Edgbaston may have provided India with a realistic long-term captaincy option in the traditional format and when Rohit Sharma decides to give time to his Test career.
Bumrah was good with his bowling variations, field placements and the DRS call of his own bowling. Overall, a complete package.
India’s ‘MVP’ Jadeja
Earlier in the day, Jadeja reaffirmed his status as India’s most valuable player across all formats as he scored his best Test century – 104 runs in 194 balls.
However, this century was of far better quality than his previous two, especially if one factor affects the conditions, the match conditions and the quality of the opposition’s bowling.
Jadeja hit 13 boundaries, and his nearly four-and-a-half hours remained at the crease, allowing Pant to play his natural offensive game, even defending the former when needed.
A punch drive through the cover-point area scored him his third century, four months after scoring his second in Mohali.
Jadeja, who has already scored 2500 runs in Test cricket with 242 wickets, can be called the best all-rounder of the Indian team since the great Kapil Dev.
A Test batting average of over 37 is better than many experts who have played for India over the years.
‘Boom Boom’ show
Bumrah used the bat like a sword and even the top-side looked as if the ball was hitting the “sweet spot” as Broad’s over hit four boundaries and two sixes. There were hooks, pulls and drives to entice the capacity crowd.
The Indian captain, in fact, gave the hosts a dose of ‘Bazzball’ (Brendon McCullum’s attacking philosophy) which had become a trending lingo in English cricket during the past few weeks.
While Rishabh Pant’s century century and Jadeja’s third Test century set the stage, India did not spare 93 runs with contributions from No. 9, 10 and 11.
As far as England’s bowling is concerned, James Anderson (5/60), who is a month shy of turning 40, is still a class person as he took his 32nd five-wicket haul in Tests.
But 40 extra runs including 14 no balls in the long run will certainly trouble England.
tearing down the English top order
By the time he came to bowl, Bumrah was already aware of the (6) weaknesses of left-handed opener Alex Lees. He went around the wicket and backed down a bit from an angle as it broke the opener’s defence.
In the case of Jacques Crawley (9), Bumrah bowls a fuller at the ‘fourth off-stump’ and Crowley’s drive was snatched by Shubman Gill posted at third slip.
publicized
Similarly, after another rain break, he tested Ollie Pope (10) with another fuller delivery that was a bit wide and the expansive drive only ended in the hands of Shreyas Iyer at second slip.
But India saved their best for last as Mohammad Siraj had to awkwardly back down with an awkward seam as England’s best batsman Joe Root (31) could only get into a tangle and hit one to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps. Could have given an easy catch. PTI KHS KHS ATK ATK
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