Jasprit Bumrah, the fast bowler of our times, completed the job that he had begun in England’s first innings as India weathered a predictably ferocious fourth-innings challenge from a team that never knows when it is beaten, to close out a 106-run victory in Visakhapatnam and square an enthralling series at 1-1 with three Tests to come.
Jasprit Bumrah‘s figures of 3 for 46 in 17.2 overs were less spectacular than his first-innings six-for, but the timing of his breakthroughs was everything on a fraught fourth day – in particular, his priceless extraction of Jonny Bairstow on the stroke of lunch, a dismissal that capped a five-wicket session for India and left England’s chase with too far to run, having busted out of the blocks with now typical gusto.
The loss was only England’s third in 11 fourth-innings chases since the start of the Bazball era, and if a target of 399 had always seemed outlandish, their all-out total of 292 was still higher than the previous successful chase by a visiting team in India – West Indies’ 276 for 5 in Delhi in 1987-88.
For all of their endeavour, England will rue a handful of key moments that derailed their hopes – most particularly a lbw verdict against their most composed chaser, Zak Crawley, moments before the Bairstow extraction, and an atypically lax piece of running from the captain, Ben Stokes, that sawed off his ominously poised innings before it could cut loose.
Joe Root, nursing a damaged finger, played a wild knock of 16 from 10 balls that begged several questions too, particularly given how composed England’s tail proved to be in adversity, most notably Tom Hartley, who was last man out for 36 from 47 balls.
Pitch Report and Toss
After the close but humiliating loss in the first test all eyes were on the pitch at Vishakhapatnam and the toss as in spinning conditions in India the captain winning the toss always has an advantage later on in the match. The wicket looks like a beauty to bat on. All English fans would be smiling at that.
The top layer in black soil, below is red soil. There will be turn but not too much on Day 1. Certainly a win toss, bat first kind of wicket. Both sides will play plenty of spinners but we expect the spinners to come into the contest later in the Test. The first two days certainly better for batting.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the Toss and elected to bat . India rested Mohammad Siraj and with injuries to all rounder Ravindra Jadeja and star batter KL Rahul, included chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, speedster Mukesh Kumar with former Indian speedster now commentator Zaheer Khan handing the debut cap to Rajat Patidar. Sarfaraz Khan unfortunately still awaits his chance in the playing 11 .
England on the other hand bought in veteran James Anderson for Mark Wood and handed a debut cap to Shoaib Bashir who straight away stepped in for injured Jack Leach.
Day 1. Yashaswi Jaiswal hits 179* but England manage to strike regularly to keep India at 336 for 6.
Yashaswi Jaiswal’s second Test ton offset, to some extent, the mistakes that India’s other batters committed after opting to bat on day one of the Vizag Test. His unbeaten 179* powered India to 336/6 by the end of the day with the next highest score of the day being a mere 34.
Jaiswal, after a fifty in the first Test, applied himself more in the second and worked his way to a stroke-filled hundred, getting to the landmark with an emphatic six over long on. The left-handed opener was the glue around which India’s batting revolved on a pitch that held no demons. He had partners stitching together stands but throwing it away eventually.
At the start of play, a defensive Rohit Sharma missed out on a few boundary opportunities when the spinners erred. His 41-ball innings saw no boundaries being scored. He eventually fell glancing debutant Shoaib Bashir straight into the hands of leg slip. Jaiswal, meanwhile, continued to milk the spinners, cashing in on the boundary opportunities when they erred in lengths. He was briefly helped by a positive partner in Shubman Gill, who toyed with the spinners lengths by using his feet as well as sweeping occasionally.
But a well-set Gill fell to a well-laid trap by England, as James Anderson came in for a second spell before Lunch. Gill tried to mess with Anderson’s lengths by jumping out early but never looked in comfort, edging past the slip cordon dangerously. He eventually fell chasing a wide delivery and nicking to the keeper on 34, to be dismissed by the bowler for the fifth time in seven innings.
Jaiswal brought up his fifty in the company of Shreyas Iyer and the duo were held tight soon after the Lunch break with some disciplined bowling. The shackles were broken when Jaiswal went ahead after a sharp chance was put down at slip by Root and proceeded to hit three boundaries in a row to race into the nineties. Soon after he got his first Test hundred on home soil, India suffered another setback when a restless Iyer got an underedge that was pouched safely by Ben Foakes, giving Tom Hartley his first wicket of the game.
England had managed to keep India in check despite the batters getting off to starts with partnerships worth 40, 49, 90, 70 and 52 being nipped in the bud with regular strikes. This became the first instance of each of No.3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 all getting dismissed between 25 and 35 in the same innings in Test cricket.
Patidar was a trifle unfortunate to be out with the ball trickling onto the stumps after some extra bounce had him defending awkwardly. Axar Patel, given a promotion to No. 6, and KS Bharat however were guilty of throwing away starts, each cutting the spinner to backward point towards the end of the day’s play leaving England with a big boost, despite Jaiswal’s marathon innings.
Day 2 . Jasprit Bumrah’s best establishes India’s dominance on Day 2
A sensational Jasprit Bumrah produced a masterclass with the old ball to pick up his best Test figures in India and bowl England out for 253, giving India the upper-hand at the end of the second day at Vizag. Bumrah’s 6/45 all came with the ball starting to reverse swing. He turned the game around since then to keep England from pushing ahead. The visitors had started well with opener Zak Crawley’s quickfire 76, which included four fours in an over off Bumrah with the new ball.
After a 59-run opening stand, Kuldeep Yadav had Ben Duckett caught at silly point with some extra bounce coming into play. But Crawley, bringing his long reach into play, resorted to counterattacking. He slog swept a six and then drove confidently down the track as well to put Ashwin off and brought up a well-deserved fifty in quick time.
After that it was all Bumrah, as the ball began to move around a touch. He first worked over Joe Root and had him nicking to first slip. That sequence of balls was bettered soon after as he thundered a 141.7 kph yorker past a well-set Ollie Pope to splatter the stumps. It was the third wicket lost for 22 runs for England before Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes saw off the period of play before Tea.
But just as another stand was budding, Bumrah came back after the break to have Bairstow caught well at slip by Shubman Gill. In this period, he had some help from the other end with Kuldeep Yadav spinning one past Ben Foakes’ defence and having Rehan Ahmed caught at midwicket, with Gill pouching another sharp chance.
At 182/7, England were looking down and out before Stokes combined with Tom Hartley to counterattack the spinners. The duo added 47 in quick time forcing Rohit Sharma to turn towards Bumrah again.
The pacer delivered once again leaving Stokes bemused with one skidding through before Hartley went swinging and edging to give Gill his fourth catch of the innings. He wrapped it up by trapping James Anderson LBW to finish with figures of 6/45, to cap off an innings where he became the fastest Indian bowler to 150 Test wickets. Rohit and Jaiswal saw off the small period before Stumps unscathed.
That Bumrah spell offset some of India’s mistakes with the bat in the first innings that had seen them being bowled out below 400. At the start of the day, Yashaswi Jaiswal scored more than half of India’s first innings but England managed to chip away at the other end to bowl them out for just 396.
Jaiswal got his maiden Test double century in the first session even as James Anderson produced a masterful spell with the second new ball. Jaiswal’s overnight partner R Ashwin, got a couple of boundaries early in the day but fell to a jaffa from Anderson, nicking behind.
Jaiswal began to chance his arms against the spinners but England managed to keep a lid on the scoring rate at that point. Anderson got prodigious seam movement to keep one end tight and played on Jaiswal’s patience. As the runs came to a trickle, Jaiswal tried to take on Anderson but holed out to the deep in the process after a mammoth 209.
India’s tail did not last too long with Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir managing to strike in quick succession to bowl India out before Bumrah stamped his authority.
Day 3.England’s fight back after Shubman Gill’s ton to leave Vizag Test tantalizingly poised.
Shubman Gill’s third Test ton propped up India in their second innings and enabled them to set a target of 399 for England. The visitors managed to wipe out 67 from the target by Stumps on Day 2 leaving the game intriguingly poised.
Earlier in the day, India’s shortcomings with the bat were glossed over by Gill holding one end up, much like Yashaswi Jaiswal’s had in the first innings. Gill himself had overcome a jittery start to produce a fluent innings thereafter. On the third morning, India started with a mission to extend their lead of 171 further. But as they found out, England had other ideas. The 41-year old James Anderson set the tone early, producing one to nip away and beat Rohit Sharma’s defence.
He then had Yashaswi Jaiswal chasing and nicking a delivery angled across to give England a perfect start. Their day could have become better at that point had Gill not managed to survive two close LBW reviews. The first time he was given out but was lucky to be saved by an inside edge against Tom Hartley. On the second occasion, he was saved by some extra bounce against Anderson.
Debutant Rajat Patidar too fell soon after getting an under edge that was taken well by Ben Foakes to leave India in a spot of bother having lost four before Lunch.
Gill and Axar managed to play sensible cricket after the break and stitched together an 89-run stand that pushed India’s lead ahead. The under-pressure Gill, got to a deserving ton soon. But just as he was looking to up the ante, he fell gloving a reverse sweep off Shoaib Bashir. India were then pushed further back when Axar was trapped LBW by Hartley as he tried to whip one across.
R Ashwin and KS Bharat defended their way through till the break but in the first over after, Bharat pulled a long hop straight to mid on. Ashwin, along with Bumrah, eked out a 25-run stand to push the lead towards 400 but the duo fell in quick succession after Bumrah’s patience ran out with defending, leaving England with a target of 399.
The chase was off to a quick start with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley putting on another 50-run stand. Just as India were running out of ideas however, Duckett was out caught bat-pad off Ashwin.
Day 4. Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah star’s in India’s series levelling win.
As they had promised, England produced a stiff fight in the chase but India managed to keep chipping away to clinch a 106-run victory to level the series 1-1.
England’s chase, where they made as many as 292 runs – the second-highest team score of the match – was led by a smart Zak Crawley who hit twin fifties and top-scored with 73. It started with Rehan Ahmed, the overnight batter, hitting freely at the start of the day even as Rohit Sharma persisted with Axar Patel. He got his reward eventually after a 45-run stand when he had Rehan playing across one sliding on and keeping low to be trapped LBW.
England kept attacking and Ollie Pope got off to a quick start. Crawley remained the most assured of the batters though, using his reach to good effect and playing calculated shots to keep reversing the pressure. R Ashwin found some drift and loop across the right-handers from round the wicket and began to challenge both the edges. He had Pope caught sharply at slip by Rohit and beat an attacking Joe Root in flight to have him caught as well.
But Crawley, along with Bairstow hit back with a quickfire 40-run stand. The game changed though with India finding two close LBW calls going in their favour late in the session. First Kuldeep beat Crawley with a skidder and had him adjudged LBW on review, while Bumrah brought one sharply back in to Bairstow after a series of away-going deliveries to trap him leg before on umpire’s call.
At the end of the first session, England needed just 205 more but with only four wickets left, including that of skipper Ben Stokes. Along with Ben Foakes, England’s skipper started the final session with a mixture of caution and aggression but he was undone by a direct hit from Shreyas Iyer while attempting a quick single.
At 220/7, the chase seemed done but England’s fight persisted with a 55-run stand between Tom Hartley and Foakes. But just as the duo kept chipping away at the deficit, Rohit called on Bumrah who delivered straightaway with a slower ball by deceiving Foakes. Now with some reverse swing, Mukesh Kumar struck to get Shoaib Bashir before Bumrah wrapped things up with Hartley being bowled, rather fittingly.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
Losing captain Ben Stokes said :-
“Coming into this last innings, had full belief in ourselves that we’ll chase it down. In moments like that, in games with scoreboard pressure, that’s where we get the best out of ourselves. Another great game to be a part of. There’s no suggestion whatsoever about how to play. Everyone in the dressing room is a quality player,”
“They are good enough to go out there and assess the conditions, and decide how to go about it. I absolutely loved it (captaining the spinners). To put in the performance they did yesterday was incredible. They showed a lot of maturity beyond the years. He’s amazing (Anderson). Two guys who’re incredible bowlers, (Anderson and Bumrah)
Winning captain Rohit Sharma said :-
“He is a champion player for us (Bumrah). When you win a game like that, you have to look at the overall performance as well. We were good with the bat. You know winning a Test in these conditions is not easy. Wanted our bowlers to step up and they did that. He looks like a good player, understands his game really well. Long way to go for him, has got a lot to offer for our team. Hope he stays humble. Wickets was really good to bat on,”
“If I have to point anything, lot of the batters got starts but couldn’t get big score. But I understand they’re young and new to the game. Important for us to give them confidence. Very proud of such a young squad to come up against a team like that. Lot of the guys are quite young in terms of playing this form of the game. It’ll take some time to be absolutely spot on,”
“Want them to play freely without any pressure. Last couple of years England have been playing good cricket. Knew it wasn’t going to be an easy series. Three more to go. We’ll keep our check on it and make sure we do most things right,”
Player of the match Jasprit Bumrah for his 9 wickets in the match said :-
“As I said before, I don’t look at numbers. As a youngster I did that and it made me excited. But now it’s an added baggage. As a youngster that is the first delivery I learned (yorker). Had seen the legends of the game. Waqar, Wasim and even Zaheer Khan,”
“We’re going through a transition so I feel it’s my responsibility to help them in any way I can. We discuss certain things. Have been playing with him for a long period of time (Rohit). No not really (competition with Jimmy?). Before a cricketer, I’m a fast bowling fan. If somebody’s doing well, kudos to them. I look at the situation, at the wicket and think what are my options. I should not be a one-trick pony,”
India were without a bunch of key players heading into this Test. And they’ve done enough to come up on the winning side, led by a few exceptional performances, none better than Bumrah with the ball. Did England make a mistake by going in with three spinners here though? In hindsight, maybe yes because there wasn’t much turn on offer and the ball did nip around especially in the morning sessions, with Anderson bowling beautifully.
Nevertheless, it was another spirited show from the visitors who ended up with the second-highest fourth innings score by a visiting team in India. We’ve had two cracking Tests between these teams and the series is 1-1 going into Rajkot. Will be a 10-day break before that as the enthralling test series resumes on 15th February at Rajkot for the Third test match.