Jasprit Bumrah is synonymous with greatness, often referred to as the greatest bowler of his time, but, like all humans and legends, he has his off days too, and the fourth day in Manchester against England was one of them. Although he did pick two wickets in England’s first innings, where they scored a mammoth 669 in reply to India’s 358, he unlocked one unwanted feat he had never done before in his Test career. A worn-out Bumrah failed to replicate his past performances (in this series) at Old Trafford, with English batters further tiring him out with cautious play against him.
Bumrah, for the first time since his Test debut in 2018, conceded more than 100 runs in a Test inning, looking like a pale shadow of himself. Despite him being the best of the lot, which further includes a debutant (Anshul Kamboj) and a tired Mohammed Siraj, who has already bowled the most number of overs in this series (and counting), Bumrah failed to dominate the English batters.
For England, Joe Root and captain Ben Stokes starred with the bat, hitting respective centuries. While Root (150) completed his 38th Test hundred, also surpassing several greats like Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting for most runs by a batter in Tests, Stokes ended his dry run for a Test ton with a stunning 141 – his first hundred in the whites in two years. It, however, came after he picked up a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
His feat helped him join an elite group of English all-rounders to achieve this, including Ian Botham, who did it five times in his Test career.
More misery for India’s bowling attack
Having dominated Test cricket in the past decade, more so for bowling out oppositions in almost all matches, the Indian bowling attack touched a new low during the Manchester Test. It’s for the first time since 2014 that India conceded over 600 runs in a Test inning, having last done it against New Zealand, when now-England coach Brendon McCullum slammed a triple hundred.
11 years later, the McCullum-coached England Team broke India’s streak, punishing them across two days in Manchester.
Meanwhile, India crossed 100 for the loss of two wickets in their second innings, with less than four sessions remaining for the game to get over.