India couldn’t have hoped for a better start to Day 2 of the 3rd Test against England at Lord’s than the one Jasprit Bumrah provided them with. The India pace spearhead, who missed the Edgbaston Test, immediately made an impact in the early stages on Friday when he dismissed overnight batters Ben Stokes and Joe Root off successive overs to hand his team back the advantage. Bumrah produced an in-dipper that took Stokes’ off-stump and then had Root play on to make it three wickets in the innings.
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The very next ball, three became four when Bumrah sent Chris Woakes back for a first-ball duck. However, truth be told, it almost didn’t happen. After the ball passed Woakes’ bat to land in the gloves of stand-in wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant has yet to return to the field after going off yesterday – the Indians went up in a half-hearted appeal. The men behind the wicket – KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Jurel – seemed interested, but the one man who didn’t show much interest was Bumrah. As discussions began about DRS, Bumrah was the most unsure of the lot, almost about to go back to his mark, when captain Gill asked him to stay.
"Kuch laga kya?" (Did it hit anything) Gill asked, but Bumrah said, “Pata nahi. Agar laga hai, toh bat hi hoga" (Not sure, but if it did, it has to be the bat) before he turned around. Usually, such incidents are crucial because the bowler is the one who's usually on overdrive on a caught-behind appeal. So when the bowler himself is low on confidence, it usually isn’t good news.
Shubman Gill lets his instincts take over
{{/usCountry}}"Kuch laga kya?" (Did it hit anything) Gill asked, but Bumrah said, “Pata nahi. Agar laga hai, toh bat hi hoga" (Not sure, but if it did, it has to be the bat) before he turned around. Usually, such incidents are crucial because the bowler is the one who's usually on overdrive on a caught-behind appeal. So when the bowler himself is low on confidence, it usually isn’t good news.
Shubman Gill lets his instincts take over
{{/usCountry}}But irrespective of Bumrah’s reluctance, Gill went by his instincts. England were six wickets down already, and with all three reviews intact, Gill took the gamble. Fortunately for India, it paid off as the big screen displayed a faint nick on the Ultra-Edge. And just like that, England were seven down, India on top and Bumrah on a hat-trick.
England could have been eight down had Rahul not dropped a regulation catch at second slip. Jamie Smith, India’s nemesis with scores of 40, 44 not out, unbeaten 184 and 88, edged Mohammed Siraj when he was on 5, but another drop catch meant that Smith was given a lifeline and England were allowed to push towards 350 and possibly more.