Bumrah on fire, India start Test series with a bang

First days of opening Tests go a long way in setting up a series. We are talking five Tests here. India rarely start well away from home. England too are under the pump with several batsmen playing for their careers. There are bound to be nerves, hesitation, and even some inexplicable calls. In picking Ravindra Jadeja over Ravichandran Ashwin to bolster the batting and create a left-arm threat to England’s predominantly right-handed batting line-up, India showed they were no exception to pre-series jitters. wicket at 21/0, rarely has a Day 1 been this good for India away from home. A redeeming feature of England’s batting has been their middle-order’s ability to often dig themselves out of a hole. With Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Sam Curran coming in after Joe Root, England wouldn’t have been faulted for thinking this time too would be no different despite the absence of Ben Stokes.

But India kept up the pressure by relentlessly attacking the stumps, their bowlers using the crease well to plot dismissals and being bold with reviews.

Virat Kohli could have been easily disheartened by his wrong

When Mohammed Shami pinned Bairstow with an in-cutter, it was Shardul Thakur who convinced Kohli there was no bat involved. He was right as well.

Those two wickets rattled England. Till tea, all four England wickets to fall bookended the first two sessions, disrupting the flow of their innings.

The momentum was slowly shifting in the second session, with Joe Root and Bairstow quietly building a foundation that could help England breach the 200-run mark without trouble.

On his return to Test cricket, Bairstow looked confident and even flattered with a couple of off Shami—meant Root again left to wage a lone b with just Curran in suppor England’s relief, Root wa extraordinary form, crunc exquisite drives and pushin twos even though it meant ing on the arm of Jadeja at ti

Where India could have slightly more proactive plugging the gap between t slip and gully or placing a t man for Root. Siraj and Th induced quite a few edges could have been caugh defended at the ropes. But was India’s day. So Root di really have a chance of e reviewing when Thakur got plumb in front of the stu