INDIA: 396 (Y Jaiswal 209, J Anderson 3/47) and 28/0 (Jaiswal 15*, Rohit 13*) lead ENGLAND: 253 (Crawley 76, Bumrah 6-45) by 171 runs
Yashasvi Jaiswal unbeaten on his career-best 179 walked in on a fresh second-day morning, admittedly looking to double up his century, and take India to a better position. With India 6 down for just 336, and their last proper batting option Ashwin at the other end, India had undoubtedly underperformed on what looked like an incredible wicket to bat on. James Anderson picked up where he left off on the first day, getting movement early on, and with the new ball, missed Jaiswal's bat a few times. After a calm start, and post the Ashwin wicket, Jaiswal hit a four and a six to get to his maiden test double century. Nothing would've personified his fearless inning more than hitting a boundary to get to 100 and 200. As he hit the boundary, he ran down the pitch and jumped up in the air, punching the air with his bat. A scattered Visakhapatnam crowd stood up and lauded the young man, as did the Indian dressing room. The English players ran in and congratulated Jaiswal for the masterpiece they had just witnessed.
The double century didn't feel like a hard-toiled 2-day masterpiece, it looked smooth and effortless from start to finish. Jaiswal accumulated runs in a fashion alien to the sport, and very few batters in the history of this game have been able to bat like he does, especially in their 6th test match. After adding another 9 runs to his knock, he looked to step out and smash Anderson out of the ground, mistiming the shot that went straight to Bairstow, a poor shot, but that's nitpicking a fabulous knock. The English players once again ran in appreciating Jaiswal, fans and the dressing room stood up and clapped for the effortless masterclass test cricket had witnessed from a young bloke. As he walked off, he was shaking his head, disappointed about the shot he hit. After scoring 209, in an inning where no other Indian batter scored more than 34, a 22-year-old was disappointed he had gotten out to a poor shot. Nothing is more indicative of his temperament, one that has quickly made him an all-format player for the Indian side.
Diverging from Jaiswal's masterclass, James Anderson had slowly delivered a phenomenal innings of bowling at 41, on a docile track. Bowling 25 overs, he picked 3 wickets, conceding only 47 runs. A masterful effort by arguably the finest test pacer of the modern era, accompanied by Rehan Ahmed's very impressive 3-fer, and the debutant Shoaib Bashir's impressive 3-fer. Bashir was a little expensive but picked two important wickets of Rohit Sharma and Axar Patel in the process. On the backs of these bowlers, England had bowled India out for 396. A good score, but India could've gotten more if they batted well. Regardless, 396 was still a massive mountain to climb, and England had a challenge on their hands.
Surely enough, Zak Crawley rocketed off the start line. England scored 32 runs in the 6 overs they batted before lunch. Crawley continued his onslaught post-lunch, hitting Bumrah for 4 boundaries in an over. England had seen what the pitch was doing, and if batters batted proactively creating shots whilst troubling bowlers, they would most definitely score bulk runs here. English openers were demolishing the Indian pacers, and that forced Rohit to bring in Kuldeep in the 11th over, his second delivery spun sharply, caught Duckett's edge, and was caught comfortably. And India was on the board.
Crawley’s normal proceedings continued for a while, hitting fours and sixes all over the park, until he stepped out and edged a ball to Shreyas Iyer at backward point who took an outstanding catch running backwards. Sorry Indian fans, but similar to Travis Head’s catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma in the 2023 cricket World Cup finals. Crawley had to walk back after an impressive 76. His biggest strength perhaps had been his footwork and aggression. He had not let the Indian bowlers breathe. He was a relentless force of nature who had to be undone by an amazing piece of fielding.
If you have had a look at the scorecard, you know Bumrah was outstanding. And it all began with Root's wicket. Bumrah had once again found reverse swing early on. Only in the 26th over, he bowled a fullish lethal reverse swinger, catching Root off-guard and carrying his edge to first slip. This was a wicket for the pace bowling purists, but what followed was a wicket that would forever etch itself in your memory. Bumrah angled in a sharp yorker absolutely bamboozling Ollie Pope. Pope on one leg was caught defending for his life, but Bumrah's brilliance was about those yorkers. The photo below is one for the cricketing Hall of Fame. Bumrah had made England's 1st test's centurion look clueless. I remember sitting on my couch at around 1:40 in the morning, already awestruck by that Root wicket, struggling to stay awake, when Bumrah shattered the life out of those two stumps. Emotions ran through the Indian team as well as through me. "Was Bumrah the greatest pacer ever?", "Was Bumrah the greatest cricketer India ever produced?", "Was Bumrah even human?", I said to myself as I sat in awe of this man. Bumrah put up a calm smile like he always knew this wicket was coming. Stuff from gods had rained down on the English batters, slamming brakes on Bazball, but only if they had known Bumrah had in store for them.
Returning from Tea, Bumrah produced another delivery that makes you wonder if he is human. Reverse swing was the story of the day. And every wicket he had produced had been a reverse swing workshop for young bowlers. The way he combined his crafty wrist releases with lethal reverse swing made him unplayable. Even the best of batters were going to succumb to Bumrah today. He was that good. He was just that good. Bairstow had struggled vs Bumrah post-tea, and confused about the delivery, edged one directly to first slip. What had been a tremendous start for England had quickly turned into a nightmare. Kuldeep got rid of Foakes and Rehan with two incredible deliveries, reducing England to 7-down.
Do you remember the delivery that Bumrah bowled to Stokes that got him out in the first innings of the first test? Do you remember that many experts said that even Bumrah wouldn't be able to bowl such a magical delivery again? Well, nothing is impossible for Gods. Bumrah had produced magic once again. An unbelievable delivery went straight to Stokes' off stump, Stokes once again couldn't believe it. So much so he simply dropped his bat. This was a delivery even more difficult to play than a Jaffa. Stokes couldn't believe it, he had gotten going and had hit a few good boundaries and sixes in the previous overs. And Bumrah had bamboozled another English batter, this time their captain. A 4-wicket haul already for the great man was easily his best bowling performance in India ever, and easily his best bowling performance in recent times. And as you'd expect from him, he didn't take much time to clear out the tail, getting Hartley and Anderson with two more incredible deliveries. A 6-wicket haul for the Indian king of seam, on a pitch that was by no means assisting the bowlers.
I don't apologize if this blog has turned into a Bumrah fan letter, because his performance today deserves these words. We saw James Anderson be phenomenal yesterday, and we've witnessed possibly one of the best bowling performances in the history of this sport. Don't take this for granted. We're witnessing two master craftsmen performing at a stupendously high level in the same match, going back and forth. Pure-pace bowling is easily the most enjoyable form of the game, especially in this format, with the red leather ball seaming away. Below are snapshots of Bumrah's wrist just prior to releasing the ball for each of his 6 wickets, goes on to show how skillful he is with the way he bowls, adding more shape and movement to the ball.
Joe Root's wicket was a fullish delivery that reverse swung away from the batter, and you can see Bumrah with a straight hand and a straight wrist is trying to bowl the ball as straight as possible for it to sharply outswing and miss the batter.
Ollie Pope's wicket was a lethal yorker that blew up his stumps. You can see Bumrah is trying to angle in the delivery from the point of release with a slightly tilted wrist on a straight arm, this angled the delivery onto the stumps, and with the right length, it became a phenomenal delivery.
Jonny Bairstow's wicket was a reverse swinging delivery that caught his edge and carried to first slip, similar to Root's wicket. I couldn't find a better snapshot of this wicket but this briefly shows the way he will move his wrist down to and push through the seam, creating bounce and movement, alongside reverse swing that will get the batter's edge.
Ben Stokes wicket was a classic full length delivery that quickly angled into his off stump. Bumrah's wrist here is straight, directed and pointed towards the off stump, and here he will again strike his wrist downwards creating the bounce that caught Stokes off guard.
Right then, England had been bowled out for just 253. What had been a promising start had slowly faded away. And some of the credit must go to Rohit Sharma as well. I strongly criticized his captaincy in the first match, and he has learned from his mistakes. He set much better fields, rotated his bowlers in a much better manner, and started the 2nd and the 3rd session with his best bowlers, ensuring pressure kept building, which yielded Duckett and Bairstow wickets. For the majority of the time Bumrah had bowled, Rohit had kept at least 2 slips, and a gully at times. This was a huge improvement from the first test, which did yield a couple of wickets. Another mistake he had made in the 1st match was easing the run flow after a wicket fell, or when new batters were at the crease. It had been easy for batters to rotate the strike and get settled in the first match. This time around Rohit wasn't making the same mistake. He set much better fields, with a short-leg, a leg-slip, a slip at most of the times, and very importantly kept mid-on and a mid-off, daring batters to hit the ball over the bowlers' head. Zak Crawley tried to do exactly that and edged one to backward point. This was a commendable improvement from Rohit, as I had said, he's a very smart and successful captain, and he has adapted brilliantly. Below are some pictures of the various fields he set. Brilliant stuff.
India batted for 5 overs at the end of the day. With Rohit and Jaiswal both hitting a few good boundaries and looking decent overall. Scoring 28 runs, and taking a healthy lead of 169 into the third day, India will be extremely happy with what they have achieved today. 396 was a good total to get to, and then reducing England to 253 after an incredible start, and taking a lead of 143 into their second innings. Jaiswal and Bumrah had been India's stars so far, and whilst England had battled well, they were very much behind right now.
But England doesn't play traditional test cricket, and that is what perhaps scares the opposition fans. As Bumrah dismissed Anderson, I told a couple of my friends yes this was going to be India's game now, there was no way they were losing. "Can't say anything yet, you remember the first match, don't you?" they said. And that is what Bazball is. England are never out of the game. And with 171 behind, they will still be looking to win this match. Can they get some early wickets tomorrow? Can they restrict India to a low score tomorrow? They can chase anything below 400, extremely difficult, but on a pitch like this one, I won't in my sane mind rule out a Bazball chase. Tomorrow is poised to be an interesting day. See you after the 3rd day's play in Visakhapatnam tomorrow, thanks.
Wonderful analysis of Bumrah’s brilliance.