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Even if it was only a 25-ball stay in the end, Jasprit
Bumrah’s night at the bat seemed to be more of a struggle against himself than
the bowlers. He was just a bit late, but he knew it all.
Bumrah was a very different player with the new ball
than he was with the bat. At this point, he was fully aware of his intentions
and if the ball was fulfilling them. In his prime, he was aware of what made
LBW arguments so compelling. He quickly withdrew from an LBW review against
Dawid Malan early in his term, signalling to his captain that the ball was
drifting away. As much as Bumrah felt that India needed an early breakthrough,
this was not it. Not quite yet.
In the subsequent over, that would occur. In order to
pull off this next trick, Bumrah would change to round the wicket and shape the
ball towards the left-hander, which would be a nearly impossible angle to play
considering his motion. Malan also managed to squeeze one over the offside for
a boundary as Bumrah continued to shape them away. Bumrah remained unflappable,
knowing exactly when he would receive a real punchback. When he finally managed
to persuade one to take the angle more accurately, Malan scored a goal and
Bumrah went over to his cheering teammates, looking calm and as though he had
seen everything from the beginning.
But a hearty cheer ensued as he quickly got Joe Root
to trap LBW for a golden duck. This wicket was a knockout even as the opponent
was coming in, unlike Malan’s, which was a death by a dozen slits.
Upon finishing his tutorial, Bumrah was unfortunate
enough to have another one thrown at England from the opposite end. In an
attempt to draw attention to himself, Mohammed Shami, who is currently in
rivalry with both Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah, displayed his finest products.
Ben Stokes’s setup and final ejection will always be
included on his highlights reel. Stokes faced ten balls from Shami, most of
which were shaping away and steaming in from around the wicket. Stokes went,
attempted to cut and failed, to defend and failed, to step out and failed, and
last, in a fit of rage, he slapped someone before Shami ended his suffering by
forcing an ugly swipe and missing. It was a working over from the Test cricket
literature. Similar to the one that bowled Jonny Bairstow, bat-pad, by skipping
in off the consistently straight seam.
The final two balls of Shami’s spell were revealed to
be travelling at speeds above 138 km/h, defying the perception of the unaided
eye. As he concluded with a ball that went on the second bounce to the
‘keeper,’ Shami was clearly exhausted at that point in the run-up. Shami
finished it quickly, giving Rohit a brief glance to let him know he was done,
then turned to go without turning to face his grateful captain.
While England’s coach Matthew Mott felt that England
“unravelled” after their 10/4 loss, India’s team was gelling
wonderfully. Jos Buttler would receive a miraculous delivery from Kuldeep Yadav
after that, and then the two would return to deliver the death knells. Shortly
after hitting the final wicket with a brilliant yorker, Bumrah approached
Shami, putting his arm around his shoulder and making jokes all the way to the
boundary ropes where they shook hands.
In every game, the bowling group has had a lion’s
share of credit for the victories, only for the likes of Virat Kohli or Rohit
Sharma to out-glamour their contributions slightly. On a day when the latter
produced another masterclass, it was the turn of this duo to train the
spotlight back on them, deservedly.