India pacers reap the dividend of sound planning

SOUTHAMPTON: It was bolt from the blue, a delivery few had even thought Jasprit Bumrah would attempt. The pace bowler, with an absolutely straight arm action, consistently got the ball to come into the right-hander at speeds in the high 80s (mph).

England opener Keaton Jennings, with few runs in the series after being recalled into the side, was waiting for another delivery to be angled across the lefthander but was dumbfounded as one pitched and came in late to rap him in front for a duck.

It was the first ball of Bumrah’s second over of the morning, and it showed how much work India’s pace quartet had put in going into the fourth Test. India’s pace pack has won high praise on this tour, but their remarkable early show was down to work done “away from the cameras” as Bumrah had put it after taking a five-for in the third Test win.

Bumrah almost had England skipper Joe Root next. He had induced a nick off England’s best batsman with one pitched wider to be caught in the cordon at Nottingham. This time a pitched up delivery slanted into him and caught him in front. But for India’s review revealing a frontfoot no-ball, he was gone.

But he got Jonny Bairstow to nick one pitched on off-stump and seaming away just that bit. There was help for pacers in the morning, but India’s pace quartet was ready to exploit the conditions with plans for each batsman. Even experts were initially stunned by the delivery to Jennings. TV replays showed it was no fluke. Bumrah had got the seam pointing to leg slip to bring it back into the left-hander. His usual delivery was bowled with seam pointing to slip.

Ishant Sharma has got Alastair Cook thrice in this series, 11 times overall, showing mastery in his run-up, pace and swing, also smoothly switching to around the wicket. Alastair Cook survived this time, but he switched back to over-the-wicket and pitched it full to trap Root leg before.

Mohammed Shami has made the old ball to move as well. It wasn’t just the bowlers. The field placements were spot on, especially cutting out Cook’s scoring areas to force him to edge a loose cut against Hardik Pandya. And the slip fielders also stood slightly up.