The new ball was taken off Jasprit Bumrah’s hand after a two-over spell. With R Ashwin immediately finding turn, Rohit Sharma brought Axar Patel from the other end. Switching between mid-on or short fine-leg, Bumrah would use every opportunity, sometimes just five-ten seconds, to urgently shine the ball. When the ball was not in his hands, standing at fine-leg, he would point out the BCCI emblem on his t-shirt to whoever had the ball, signalling which side of the ball to shine.
For the next 13 overs, as England’s top-order employed the reverse-sweep to good effect and thwarted the plans of India’s spin trio, Bumrah would watch the proceedings quietly from his perch. He would often walk for a short conversation with Ashwin and Rohit, using those moments to attend the red-cherry.
With lush green outfields being the norm in Indian grounds, like the one in Hyderabad, and since the ICC stopped players from using saliva to shine the ball, bowlers have struggled to find reverse swing. The ball doesn’t scuff up easily. But the most celebrated and revered spells of reverse-swing have all come on the green baizes of Australia. Like Imran Khan at the MCG in 1977 and Sarfraz Nawaz at the same venue in 1979.
Never in doubt!@Jaspritbumrah93 gets his man and the off-stump is out of the ground 🔥🔥
Ben Duckett departs for 47.
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But unless the ball is taken care of properly, there is little room for reverse-swing. Which is why India took utmost care of the ball. England’s batsmen aided their cause a bit, as every time they employed the reverse-sweep, the new-ball bounced off the bald square patches adjacent to the pitch.
With due care, where players identify a slightly rough side and polish it with diligent care, the other side becomes totally rough. From using saliva, bubble-gums, dirt, cold-drink bottle caps, Vaseline and even sandpaper, teams have used all sorts of tricks to scuff up the ball. With all the cameras and the ban on using saliva to shine the ball, reverse swing has been hard to purchase, especially in India. James Anderson found some in the first Chennai Test during the last England tour. But in conditions where the spinners have dominated, it has become a forgotten art, until Bumrah reminded everyone of it.
Unpredictable art
So before Bumrah got the ball back in his hand to send another spell. India had taken care of the ball, but how it would behave is unpredictable.The art of reverse-swing remains more mysterious than the mystery spinners. It caught England off-guard. They seemed prepared to counter the Indian spinners, who came out all attacking, but didn’t have answers to Bumrah’s reverse-swing.
“It’s what you’d expect from a Test match, and it was a big moment in the game,” Root, who faced that spell, would tell later. “I was disappointed not to get through it. You know that for four or five overs he will charge in and throw everything at us. You get through that and it puts a big dint in it mentally. You recognise that as a big moment in the game. One of my frustrations was to not still be there at the backend of it, but he’s a quality bowler with a huge amount of skill and pace. 1-0 to him, although 1-1 actually as I got him out earlier, so I’m sure that battle will continue throughout the series,” Root added.
As Waqar Younis, a master exponent of reverse-swing claimed, players with a slinging action tend to be good at it. There is no bigger one than Bumrah, when it comes to an unorthodox fast bowler. So with Ben Duckett being at his adventurous best, and spinners being least threatening, Rohit called up Burmah for second over after lunch. And in a five-over spell, Bumrah would open up the game for India. In those five overs, he got Duckett twice (India didn’t review a turned down LBW appeal), nearly had Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow once before dismissing the former England captain. In those five over spell, the ball listened to Burmah orders.
Hyderabad: India’s Jasprit Bumrah appeals successfully for the wicket of England’s Joe Root during the third day of first test match between India and England, at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak)
There was a hint of reverse in Bumrah’s first over, in which Duckett survived a close LBW call. When India chose not to review and the replays confirmed the ball would have hit Duckett’s leg-stump, Bumrah would get even more animated. It would turn into seething anger in his next over when Duckett hit two boundaries. But off the next ball, Bumrah wielded his magic. The England opener would go for an expansive drive, after watching the shiner part of the ball was inside. But the reverse -swinging rocket came in with the angle.
In his next over, Root survived an incoming one with a faint edge. Pope somehow kept out a devilish yorker. Bumrah then slipped in a slower one, which just lobbed over the vacant cover region. But to the next, which again cut in sharply – the shiner part was pointing inwards again – Root had no answers as it sneaked past his inside edge and hit him flush on the knee. The DRS confirmed it was hitting the leg-stump.
Even though Root and Pope knew what Bumrah’s intentions were, they needed a bit of luck to survive. For, with the reverse-swing he was getting, Bumrah’s out-swingers were dipping on the right-handers. With Bumrah running with the ball covered in his hands, the batsmen were getting only a fraction of second to figure out the shinier side of the ball and adjust accordingly.
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The real mastery of Bumrah was how cleverly he harnessed reverse swing. He softened the batsmen up with conventional swing before unleashing the reverse-swing. Having tested Root and Pope with ones that curved back in, he moved the ball away from Bairstow, who successfully kept out two yorkers, including the last of Bumrah’s spell that hit the inside-edge and stuck the pads before becoming a dead ball. 5-0-17-2 looked a lot better and hostile than the figures showed.
The twin openings that Bumrah provided would then be used by Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin to come up with two deliveries that took out Bairstow and Ben Stokes. From thereon, Pope had other plans as he answered England’s prayers.
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