Yashasvi Jaiswal may not have got the kind of support he, and the Indian fans, would have hoped with fellow batters on Day 1, as he ended up scoring more than fifty per cent of the team’s total in the 2nd Test between India and England at Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium. However, on Day 2 Jasprit Bumrah ensured that Jaiswal’s 209 that helped India to 396 would not remain just a footnote by the end of this Test match.
There is still a lot more to play for in this match, but Bumrah delivered a match-altering spell of fast bowling which I dare say, could not only define this match, but likely the series as well. At stumps on Day 2, India were in a commanding position thanks largely to Bumrah’s 15.5-5-45-6 – his second five-wicket haul in India, leading England by 143 runs. In their second dig, India added 28/0, extending the overall lead to 171.
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After keeping India to 396 – addition of 60 runs for the loss of four wickets to the overnight total, England would have been more than satisfied racing to 59 in just about 11 overs with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley once again putting the pressure on the Indian new-ball bowlers. Mukesh Kumar was taken for 22 runs in his first two overs while Bumrah’s fourth over – 8th of the England innings – was hit for four boundaries. The Indian total of 396 seemed to look a tab bit sort.
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But unlike in Hyderabad, it was not that the England openers used the sweep and reverse sweep to unsettle Indian bowlers. The Vizag track with a bit of variable bounce on offer was going to be a risky proposition for sweeps and the duo realised that and not surprisingly there were no cheeky attempts at sweeps early on. Nonetheless with the shots in the V and full-blooded slashes towards the square England were up and running.
Enter Kuldeep Yadav, playing in place of Ravindra Jadeja, and the leggie managed to get one to bounce an extra bit to surprise Duckett (17), who marched forward for a defensive prod and the edge was taken easily by Rajat Patidar at silly point. But Crawley was in no mood to relent, and he kept on attacking with the slog sweeps and the shimmies down the track en route to his fifty off just 52 balls and motored along to 78 in no time. Then, in a bid to unsettle Axar Patel, the tall opener tried to one that just about gripped on the surface off a good length area – Shreyas Iyer took a tumbling catch at backward point.
That unnecessary wicket opened the floodgates, as England went from 114/1 to 159/5 in 13.1 overs. Off that 13.1 overs – Bumrah bowled 6 overs, taking three wickets, giving away just four runs.
The moment Joe Root walked in at the fall Crawley, Rohit Sharma brought Bumrah back into the attack and he ran in with purpose getting extra bounce off the surface. Ollie Pope was at the receiving end of this as Bumrah also started to get some reverse movement with a slightly old’ish’ ball. To Root, Bumrah varied his length, sometimes going full trying to find the late movement and at times banged it in short at the awkward back of good length area. Root was in two minds: whether the ball would jag back in or leave him. In Hyderabad too, Rohit had brought on Bumrah to negate the Root factor and the Indian had delivered with a peach of delivery. And for the second time in the series, Bumrah produced the wicket-taking delivery against England’s batting lynchpin. Straighter one on off-stump and Root poked at it hoping the ball would come back in, but it left him after pitching and Shubman Gill took a good catch at slips. Root went back frustrated for 5. This was the eighth time Bumrah had picked up Root in Test cricket – three more than any other bowler.
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A over later, Bumrah struck another deadly blow – a toe-crushing yorker to the Hyderabad hero Pope – with a magical delivery that swung in late and hitting the base of middle and leg stump, uprooting both and leaving Pope with no hope. James Anderson had earlier produced an incisive spell of fast bowling with the wobble seam giving away nothing; and Bumrah trumped that, taking away everything.
He was not done yet though and came back in the final session to fox Jonny Bairstow with inswingers and outswingers, before pushing one wide forcing the batter to poke at it – edge to first slip.
Kuldeep Yadav later went on to add another two in quick time finding ominous turn and bounce. Ben Foakes was cleaned up for 6, while Rehan Ahmed hit a long-hop to short-mid. But Stokes as still out there and upped the ante in a bid to reduce the deficit. But a stroke of luck for Bumrah will hand him his fourth wicket, when one angled in kept low going under Stokes’ bat to uproot the off stump. The skipper was bemused, but he had to walk back leaving England 229/8, still trailing India by 167 runs. He made 47 off 54. Bumrah went on to complete his 10th five-wicket haul when he had Tom Hartley caught at fly slip and his sixth in the form of Anderson meant England were folded for 153, losing their last nine wickets for 139 runs.
In reply, Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma got off to a breezy start scoring 28 runs in five overs.
Brief Scores: India 28/0 & 396 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 209, Shubman Gll 34; James Anderson 3/47) lead England 253 (Zak Crawley 78; Ben Stokes 47; Jasprit Bumrah 6/45) by 171 runs
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