Over 83.1: Four runs
83.2: Five wides
83.2: no ball + Six
83.2: Four
83.3: Four
83.4: Four
83.5: Six
83.6: 1 run
It’s a hit with the Indian dressing room who are clapping, laughing, and staring at the television screen watching their captain pull off something unbelievable. At the non striker’s end, Mohammed Siraj, who has the greatest seat in the house, can’t stop embracing his skipper Jasprit Bumrah. Both of them are in utter disbelief at what is happening. Stuart Broad too is grinning, but who knows what’s happening inside his head at this point?
Batting at No. 10, Bumrah dismantled Broad’s bowling figures in a span of eight unusual deliveries. With four fours and a six, the six legal deliveries were smashed for 23 runs. Matters were made worse when the batter also capitalised on the extras the 36-year-old pacer dished out. Conceding a massive 35 runs, Stuart Broad created a world record for the most expensive over in Test history as India continued their stunning start to the rescheduled fifth Test on day two against England at Edgbaston on Saturday.
Watch: Jasprit Bumrah creates world record as Stuart Broad’s over goes for 35 runs
On day one, England were tired out by Rishabh Pant who scored a stunning rapid-scoring century. They were then unnerved by Ravindra Jadeja who registered his third Test century on Saturday morning and then outclassed by Jasprit Bumrah’s blitz.
Mind you, Bumrah wasn’t done yet. India only batted for 11.5 overs on Day 2 and Bumrah had already become a talking point before he had entered his original territory and bowled a single delivery.
Now, England’s batting has been good in recent times but they had been having trouble at the top of the order with Zak Crawley (9) having a string of low scores behind him and Alex Lees (6) failing to consolidate the starts he had got.
You expose a little bit of vulnerability to Bumrah and he is going to pounce at that. And so, in just the third over of the innings, he was able to hit the timber to send back Lees.
Then, in the second over right after early lunch was taken because of a rain interruption, Bumrah persisted with the sixth stump line against Crawley as well. He forced him to play a rather loose drive, and this time Shubman Gill was there to neatly pouch it.
In comparison to Mohammad Shami (1/33), Bumrah had been bowling a bit more fuller and more outside the off-stump before tea. Despite the overcast conditions in several passages of play, there wasn’t a lot of swing on offer but Bumrah had been trying to extract what he could, instead of bowling straighter.
Bumrah then, followed it up with the third wicket of the day by removing Ollie Pope (10). Just like Lees’ dismissal, this was taken off the extra delivery that he had to bowl after a no ball had been called. Attempting to play a cover drive, he instead found a thick outside-edge that carried to Shreyas Iyer at second slip.
And just like that, on his first proper day on the field as India Test captain, Bumrah (31* off 16 balls and 3/35) put India in the driver’s seat... first with the bat and then with the ball.
The comfortable position India found themselves in enabled a less pressurised Shami and Siraj (1/5) to seriously trouble the English batsmen after the rain break. Shami, in particular, adjusted his lengths to bowl fuller and found Root (31) wanting on several occasions.
Siraj, in just his second over of the match, made sure that the pressure Shami had been building to unnerve Root reaped results. He bowled a peach of a delivery that shaped in, leaving Root stranded after underedging it. Shami also finished the day with a wicket as he dismissed Jack Leach for a duck.
India finished on top for the second consecutive day and Bumrah played a huge role in that regard.
Talking about Bumrah’s approach in the match so far, former India fielding coach R Sridhar who has seen the bowler from close-quarters, observed on air that unlike a lot bowling captains, he did not under-bowl. Interestingly, that was the observation from commentator David Gower about England captain Ben Stokes who bowled just 13 overs.
Sridhar added: “Sometimes when you’re a bowler captain and selfless like Bumrah, you tend to under-bowl yourself. And cut yourself maybe one over less and maybe want to bring a (Mohammad) Siraj on or a Shardul (Thakur) on and get them into the game and give them them that limelight. But Bumrah bowled that extra over, he bowled seven overs in that spell (before tea) and that is a good sign because bowler captains can go either way - either they bowl themselves too many overs or they under-bowl themselves.”
He may only be a stand-in captain but in just his first match, first day in the office really, Bumrah had a day to remember.
Watch highlights here:
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