India captain Jasprit Bumrah turned on the style with the bat and the ball against England on Day 2 in Edgbaston. Bumrah’s cameo helped India get 416 after centuries from Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, and he then knocked off the first three wickets as well. Along with him, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami also struck, putting India well and truly in command at stumps on Day 2.
The third day will see England begin from 84/5 as they trail India by 332 runs, after a rain-hit Day 2.
India Post 416
India’s changed top order did not work to plan as Cheteshwar Pujara (13) and Shubman Gill (17) both failed to fire and were dismissed in the opening hour of Day 1 of the Edgbaston Test by none other than James Anderson.
That was followed by a long rain stoppage after which Matthew Potts packed off Hanuma Vihari (20) and then Virat Kohli for 11, before Anderson exploited Shreyas Iyer’s weakness with the short ball and dismissed him for 15.
At 98/5 England were on top, but that’s when Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja decided to get their act going. Pant did Pant things, getting to his century off 89 deliveries and then adding 46 more in quick time, while Jadeja was happy to close out the other end. The duo put on 222 runs as India fought back in style, wresting away the advantage from the hosts. And if anyone was happy to see the back of Pant, it was Jack Leach who took a hammering, yet again. Joe Root though was successful in dismissing Pant.
Jadeja finished Day 1 unbeaten on 83 with Mohammed Shami for company. The duo added 33 more runs to the cause in the morning with Shami hitting the first boundaries of the day.
Jadeja marched on to his century with a cracking cut shot of Potts before Stuart Broad gave England the first moment of joy. He pitched it short to Shami who tried to guide it over third man, but was caught by Jack Leach for 16.
Jadeja held out for a total of 194 deliveries finally, scoring 104 and putting India in a great position before Anderson knocked over his stumps with the second new ball.
The 84th over of the innings was bowled by Stuart Broad, and Bumrah faced the whole over, with India scoring 35 runs in that over. Broad bowling a no-ball and wide that went for a boundary and six also did not help the fielding side.
The 35-run over is the most scored in one over in Test history. Bumrah scored 29 runs in the over of the bat, which also the highest for the number of runs scored by a batter in an over in Test history.
Mohammed Siraj was dismissed in the next over as Bumrah finished unbeaten on 31 and India were bowled out for 416.
Bumrah and Bowlers Dominate England
Back out with the ball after a break, India captain Bumrah struck the first blow, knocking over the stumps of opener Alex Lees (6). The openers, Lees and Zak Crawley, had added 16 before rain stopped play, half-hour before the Lunch break.
The players came back out for a brief period before there was a much longer rain delay, and in those few minutes, Bumrah hurt England, again. The Indian captain knocked over Zak Crawley for 9.
Ollie Pope and Joe Root had the job of rebuilding and rain intervened again before they could settle in. Players came back out after almost an hour and half.
Root and Pope though could not keep India out for too long as Bumrah picked a third wicket in the 11th over, sending back Ollie Pope for 10, caught by Shreyas Iyer in the slips. After a total of half-hour or so of play, rain intervened again as Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root went back in with the rest and the covers came out.
Back out on the field for an hour before stumps, Bairstow and Root survived a fantastic and fiery spell from Bumrah and Shami. However, the bowling change midway through the hour worked wonders as Mohammed Siraj got the big wicket.
Siraj banged it in short and it came back a fair bit, which caught Root by surprise and took the edge through to Pant. England lost Root for 31 as India continued to stay on top.
India did not bowl a maiden over for the first 19, but the 4 after that and before Root's dismissal yielded just a leg bye. Root clearly felt bogged down and tried to play his shots against Shami and even against Siraj, in the end tried to cut a ball that was very close to him.
Soon after, night watchman, Jack Leach was dismissed by Shami before Bairstow (12*) and Ben Stokes (0*) played out the final 10 odd minutes. At stumps on Day 2, England trail by 332 runs with 5 wickets back in the hut.
Captain Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah incidentally has never led in any form of cricket, so this will be his maiden captaincy stint. He will also become the first fast bowler to captain India since Kapil Dev, who was removed in 1987 after the Pakistan match in Bangalore.
Bumrah is the 36th cricketer to lead India in the longest-format since the country first played in 1932.
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