Russian teen star Korneeva is just getting started
stumps with a searing reverseswinging yorker and again dismissed Ben Stokes. That spell gave India a 143-run first-innings lead and set up the series-levelling win.
For the first two days of the series, there was no sign that the pacers would have a say. England had not even felt the need to pick a second pacer as Anderson (who was bowling left-arm spin while warming up) was left on the bench at Hyderabad. For India, R Ashwin and Co expectedly did bulk of the bowling. Then, on the third day after lunch, Bumrah started to make things happen.
In an adrenaline-pumping performance, he put on an exhibition of reverse swing. Almost every ball felt like an event during that fiveover burst. With England scoring at more than five per over, Bumrah sent left-hand opener Ben Duckett’s off-stump cartwheeling at the total of 113. Duckett had played a cover drive earlier in the over, but this length ball came in with the angle. Even Root was done in by Bumrah’s reverse swing. After testing him with a yorker, Root was nailed in front by a 140.4kph inswinger. Trying to clip it away, Root got slightly offbalance to be beaten on the inside edge. India lost by 28 runs, but Bumrah with six wickets showed he would be a factor.
Written off after his 2023 Ashes haul of just five wickets in four Tests, Anderson was struggling with his run-up, and thus his action. But he surprised everyone by how sharp he was at Vizag. The
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SPINNERS IN THIS SERIES OVER 2 TESTS
ANDERSON AND BUMRAH IN THIS SERIES
OTHER PACERS IN THIS SERIES control over line, length and movement was there to see to go with the nip off the surface. He worked up a good pace too — hitting 139kph with a few deliveries.
Anderson set the tone on Day 3 in Vizag with a gem that sent Rohit Sharma’s off-stump cartwheeling. It was a trademark Jimmy special — the ball leaving the batter just a shade after pitching to beat the bat. Soon, he set up young Yashasvi Jaiswal outside the off-stump to carve open India’s top order.
There hasn’t been much to separate the two. In their first contest, in 2018 in England, Bumrah took 14 wickets in three games and Anderson 24 in five (England won the series 4-1). In 2020-21 in India, Bumrah took four in two games, Anderson eight in three (India
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Bumrah became the first India pacer to top the ICC men’s Test bowling rankings. The 30-year-old is the fourth Indian to be No. 1 after Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Bishan Singh Bedi. won 3-1). In 2021 in England, Bumrah had 23 in five Tests, Anderson 21 in five (series ended 2-2).
The two champions using their craft to set up batters has been a treat to watch. Apart from reverse swing, Bumrah is using change of pace to telling effect. Anderson has drawn the batters to their doom with subtle changes in line and length. Against Pope in Vizag, Bumrah got him with a searing yorker. In the second innings, he foxed Ben Foakes with a slower ball to accept a return catch.
Bumrah’s wrist position and release point don’t change much, making it difficult for the batters to read which way he would go. Apart from the hyper-extension of his elbow, he has mastered the difficult art of flicking the wrist to make the ball jag off the turf.
Though his front toe on landing isn’t copy-book, Anderson is more classical. He is poetry in motion with a smooth run-up and action, extracting movement irrespective of the conditions. He sets up batters, be it their weakness outside off or with the incoming ball. He foxed Gill like he did Kohli at home in 2014, slipping one wider outside off after a series of deliveries on the off-stump line. Against Rohit, he preyed on his weakness against the away swinger.
Anderson is the most successful Test pacer by a distance. Bumrah’s action gives him the cutting edge and he is almost unplayable when on song. But for the moment, everyone can simply enjoy the two masters at work.
Most times, Alina Korneeva doesn’t really come across as a 16-year-old while playing or talking tennis. But it does hit the Russian in those rare instances. Like when she begins answering a question with, “I think my whole career .... ”. “It’s funny when I say like this,” Alina says, breaking into a laugh, “because I’m just 16 and it has just started.”
Started with a bang, and potential to bloom. The teen was the world No.1 junior last year, capturing the Australian Open and French Open girls’ singles crowns with a couple of professional ITF titles to go as well. On her debut WTA Tour event in Hong Kong last October, she made the Round of 16 and on Wednesday, took a step further at the WTA 125K Mumbai Open.
Alina battled past qualifier Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to make her first WTA quarter-final, overcoming a spirited challenge from the 520th-ranked Indian who dished out a level and groundstrokes quality that matched the Russian (except her 14 double faults). The teen remained unperturbed after the first set, kept going for her winners and some fine drop shots.
A month ago, the 2023 Australian Open girls champion returned to Melbourne Park and qualified for the main draw among the women this time. Alina won her first round before losing to 10th seeded Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia. “I didn’t expect to qualify for the Australian Open this year and win a match,” Alina says. “Not all 16-year-old girls can do it.”
A wave of teen sensations has gripped women’s tennis lately. Alina too is riding it, with the belief of beating any player on the tour. “Because now I’ve watched them play. I have a lot of steps to improve. But at the same time, I saw their level is the same as mine. In tennis now, especially women, even a 200 ranked player can beat any top player.”
Alina is currently ranked 134, with bigger and greater things expected of her. There’s already plenty of talk around the tall and well-built teen, and parallels drawn with another towering Russian, Maria Sharapova. The youngster senses that and her heightened potential, and relishes it.
“Of course, I have it. I know what people talk. And I know people expect from me a lot. But I think it’s good, because in my mind, they push me. When they say these words, it really pushes me, my physical and mental level. I really like it,” she says.
Tennis wasn’t something she instantly liked. Growing up in Moscow in a family of volleyball players — her father Aleksandr Korneev was part of Russia’s 2008 Olympics bronze winning team while her grandparents too “were really famous volleyball players”, she says — Alina kept asking her parents an oft-repeated question.
“Why tennis?” she recalls. “They said they didn’t want me to play team sports.”
Armed with a mindset of what Alina believes every Russian tennis player possesses — “we work hard, like tigers” — she began making her mark on the junior circuit and enjoying the sport. “When I started to play tournaments, especially in Europe and US, I fell in love with this sport,” she says.
Alina trains with her coaches when in Moscow but is now largely based at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain. That’s where her coaches drilled into her the importance of having a strong body to complement a promising game. “At the academy, coaches always tell me I have to work more on my physical strength. Because when you’re 16 and when you play with big women, I have to prepare physically more,” she says.
Her junior journey has been prolific, yet Alina understands it will count for little if she doesn’t translate that in the professional world where she’s only getting started. “Sure, last year was a good step into my future in professional tennis,” she says. “But it doesn’t matter how much you win in juniors. Most important is what you do as a professional. Nobody will talk about juniors then.”