Picture-perfect Bumrah rattles England

Visakhapatnam: Famous artist Andy Brown on Saturday was painting the Dr YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium, adding to his vast collection.

For over a decade, the Englishman has visited several stadiums across the world, capturing venues and even famous athletes performing live on his canvas - that’s his USP.

He may want to paint Jasprit Bumrah, if he still hasn’t, by the end of this series which would be a priceless addition to his collection.   

Bumrah’s magical 6/45 on a hot Saturday just showed what an astonishing fast bowler he is and what a genuine match-winner he has turned into - no matter the pitch, the conditions, venue or format.

The vice-captain produced three outstanding spells, including a picture-perfect yorker to dismiss Ollie Pope, to send the cricketing world into a tizzy and put India in a strong position on day two of the second Test. Thanks to Bumrah, England were shot out for 253 in 55.5 overs and at stumps India were 28/0 in their second innings, an overall lead of 171 runs.    

After a sedate first spell of 2-1-6-0 and going for 18 runs in two overs later, Bumrah decided time was ripe to showcase his sorcery, mixing the difficult art of reverse swing with unplayable yorkers and deceptive slower ones that literally left two of his victims - Pope and Ben Stokes - in awe of his supreme skills. 

Bumrah kick-started his third spell an hour before tea by constantly flummoxing Joe Root, England’s most accomplished batter. The visitors were looking to stage a recovery through Root and first Test hero Pope after being reduced to 114/2 in response to India’s 396 all out, built largely on Yashasvi Jaiswal's splendid 209. 

Bumrah got the slightly old ball to reverse judiciously. Even Root, who is usually quite assured with his foot work, was finding it hard to tackle Bumrah before a perfect set-up brought about his downfall. Bumrah got the first four balls to swing in then had the fifth one to move a shade away, a befuddled Root poking his bat and finding an edge. 

The dismissal of Pope then was devilish. The ball - fast and searing - swung in sharply and Pope played all over it. The stumps lay rattled, images and video of the wreckage instantly going viral. That spell read 4-2-9-2, Bumrah smiling and England reeling.

Then came the fourth (4-2-9-1) after tea where his sole scalp of Jonny Bairstow snuffed out any hopes of an England fightback. Finally was the fifth, a sizzling 3.5-0-3-3, that silenced the visitors with the fans, chanting ‘Bumrah, Bumrah’. Rarely witness to such magic from an Indian pacer at home, they wanted Bumrah to keep going but there wasn’t any English batter left.

The icing on the cake in the final spell was the dismissal of Stokes. The captain counter-attacking India with a 54-ball 47, no bowler was able to contain him. No matter what they tried, Stokes, realising he was running out of partners, was throwing the kitchen sink at everything and getting good value for it. But then Bumrah, in his zone, outdid him with a peach.

Bumrah pulled the length back a little and got it to swing in. The ball kept a little low and with it coming in sharply, Stokes was late to bring his bat down. By the time he did, it clipped his inside edge and crashed onto the stumps.

Stokes put his hands up in despair, seemingly mystified by Bumrah’s craft. He looked exasperated while Bumrah raised his hands up in celebration again and smiled. It was another moment for shutterbugs to send an image viral, or for Brown to paint a portrait.