Jasprit Bumrah demonstrated why he is ranked as the world’s best pacer when he produced a magical spell to keep England batsmen on their toes soon after India were all out for 471 in the first innings. England showed a lot of character to hold fort at 107 for 1 at tea on the second day of the first Test at Headingley on Saturday.
Ben Duckett (53) and Ollie Pope (48) were at the crease, putting up an unbeaten 103-run partnership for the second wicket. But resuming their innings after the tea session, England lost another wicket, and were 127/2 after 30 overs.
England were looking to get off to a handsome start, but Bumrah had other plans as he made things difficult for England batsmen with his lively first spell under overcast conditions and claimed the wicket of opener Zak Crawley (4). Crawley never looked comfortable against Bumrah as he edged the ball on the first three deliveries, but the fourth one proved to be his undoing. The delivery took the outside edge of Crawley’s bat and Karun Nair made no mistake at first slip.
Ben Duckett was extremely lucky to get dropped by Ravindra Jadeja at backward point off Bumrah when he was batting at 15. However, Mohammed Siraj could not maintain the pressure that Bumrah created at the other end and bowled too many loose deliveries. The third seamer, Prasidh Krishna, also lost his accuracy as he tried to bowl a fuller length, and ended up giving ample room to England batsmen to free their arms. England soon got into their own and started scoring at a rate of close to five runs an over.
Earlier, Pant (134) scored a dazzling hundred and captain Shubman Gill (147) reached his highest Test score. However, their impressive run could not last for long as England bowlers clinched the last seven Indian wickets for 112 runs to limit India to 471.
After India resumed the day at 359 for 3, Pant took over the baton from Gill and started scoring freely. He and Gill added 209 runs for the fourth wicket, and one of the highlights of Pant’s innings was his paddle sweep against spinner Shoaib Bashir. A little later, Smith missed a simple stumping chance off Bashir when Pant was at 124. Pant hit a six over midwicket to reach 94 and completed his century in style by hitting another six when he was one short of his seventh Test ton.
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