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England came prepared for the usual trial by spin that greets touring cricket sides in India, but a “magical” seam-bowling masterclass by Jasprit Bumrah in Visakhapatnam saw their hopes of victory in the second Test vanish into thin air.
To deal with the expected conditions, England picked spin-heavy attacks complemented by a lone fast bowler both in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. The frequency with which their batters – who are known to play aggressively (bazball) – played the sweep shots also indicated their resolve to conquer the spin challenge.
And, after their spinners accounted for 18 of India’s 20 wickets en route to winning the first Test, the tourists would have been anticipating another spin-fest in Visakhapatnam.
What they probably did not expect is that Bumrah would emerge as their main threat despite having hardly any assistance from the pitches in the series.
Armed with an unorthodox sling-shot action and a reversing ball, Bumrah went wide off the crease to create angles and operated with pinpoint accuracy to torment the batters.
His 9-91 on a spin-friendly track saw him named Player of the Match, despite Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maiden double hundred.
Bumrah’s domination of England’s top batters particularly stood out in India’s series-levelling victory.
Joe Root has become Bumrah’s “bunny”, the England batter falling to the Indian for the eighth time in Test cricket and prompting former England captain Alastair Cook to say he feared it had become a “mental game”.
But Bumrah saved his best for England vice-captain Ollie Pope, whose match-winning 196 in Hyderabad is considered the best knock by a visiting batter in India.
The jaw-dropping yorker which splattered Pope’s stumps in Visakhapatnam will be talked about for a long time.
The seamer also castled Ben Stokes with another delivery that prompted the England captain to drop his bat and shake his head in disbelief.
“Sometimes you can be critical of your own team. But sometimes you also have to just doff your cap to the opposition and say they were touched by genius,” former England captain Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports.
“That spell from Bumrah in England’s first innings was genius,” he said, referring to Bumrah’s 6-45.
“I think, really, it was just the magic of Jasprit Bumrah that was the difference.”
Talking about his staggering statistics in India, Bumrah told commentator Harsha Bhogle that he doesn’t care much about the numbers.
“As I said before, I don’t look at numbers,” the fast bowler said. “As a youngster, I did that, and it made me excited. But now it’s an added baggage.”
When Harsha informed Bumrah that the entire cricketing world, including Pakistani fast bowling legend Waqar Younis was talking about his yorker to Pope, Bumrah replied: “As a youngster, that is the first delivery I learnt (yorker). Had seen the legends of the game. Waqar, Wasim (Akram) and even (India’s) Zaheer Khan.”
When asked about the competition with England pace bowler James Anderson, who is a legend of the game, Bumrah said he doesn’t get into competition.
“Before a cricketer, I’m a fast bowling fan. If somebody’s doing well, kudos to them. I look at the situation, at the wicket and think what are my options. I should not be a one-trick pony.”
Former captain Sourav Ganguly said India did not need turning tracks to win Tests at home when they have pacers of the calibre of Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, who missed the first two Tests with an ankle injury.
England, who are off to Abu Dhabi for a short break, are likely to wonder what Bumrah has up his sleeve for the third Test in Rajkot, which begins on Feb 15.
Reuters
“Sometimes you have to just doff your cap to the opposition and say they were touched by genius.”
