Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Visakhapatnam : Following his incredible six-wicket haul in the ongoing second Test against England, India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah dedicated his sizzling spell to his son Angad.
Day two of the second Test between India and England saw many remarkable moments. Be it Yashasvi Jaiswal's maiden double century, Zak Crawley's brilliant counterattack after India posted a big total in the first innings or Bumrah's six-wicket haul, the day had a lot of moments for cricket aficionados to savour.
Among the key moments from Day 2 in Vishakhapatnam was a searing yorker from Bumrah that sent Ollie Pope's middle and leg stumps cart-wheeling and another gem of a delivery that left England skipper Ben Stokes flummoxed and wondering what went wrong. He was seen stretching his arms out wide in sheer frustration and disgust at his dismissal.
In a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Bumrah dedicated the spell of 6/45 to his son.
"I will dedicate this to my son. This is his first tour and he is travelling with me. I am excited to see him," said Bumrah.
The speedster added that he was happy to have reached the milestone of 150 Test wickets, but for him, the team's success is above everything.
"It felt great at that moment, but I do not want to look at numbers. If the team wins, then the performance matters. At the end of the day, if you contribute to the team's success, there is no better feeling," said the pacer.
Bumrah became the fastest Indian speedster to pick 150-plus wickets in long-format cricket. He reached the remarkable feat after delivering 6781 balls in Test cricket. Meanwhile, Umesh Yadav stands in the second spot with 7661 balls. Mohammed Shami and Kapil Dev hold the third and fourth place with 7755 and 8378 balls respectively. He has 152 wickets in just 34 Tests with the best figures of 6/27.
Weighing in on Ollie Pope's dismissal, Bumrah said he took a similar wicket during his tour to England back in 2021, when Pope turned out to be his 100th Test wicket. He added that he was going to bowl a length ball to Pope, but changed his mind and managed to execute a perfect swinging yorker, which swung inwards.
"I think that also happened against England (the manner of dismissing Pope). Ollie Pope was my 100th wicket. That was the phase when the ball was reverse-swinging at The Oval. I wanted to bowl a length ball, but I changed my mind and went on to bowl a yorker. The execution was also good. It did swing a lot. Happy with it," said Bumrah.
On dismissing the England skipper Stokes, Bumrah said he had not planned that delivery.
"That was one delivery I had not planned. I had bowled an outswinger but the ball did not swing and went straight to the arc," said Bumrah.
The pacer said his love for the longest format of the game and how he wants to play it for as long as possible.
"This format is very dear to me. I wanted to do this. I want to play in this format for the longest period of time," he added.
India ended Day 2 of the second Test at 28/0 in their second dig, with skipper Rohit Sharma (13*) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (15*) unbeaten. The hosts lead by 171 runs.
Led by Bumrah's heroics, India had earlier bundled out England for just 253 in their first innings, gaining a 143-run lead. Zak Crawley (76 in 78 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes) did launch an impressive counterattack, but Bumrah along with spinner Kuldeep Yadav (3/71) blew away the rest of the English line-up.
India reached a respectable total of 396 runs in their first innings mainly due to the maiden double-hundred of the young Yashasvi Jaiswal (209 in 290 balls, with 19 fours and seven sixes). Knocks from Shubman Gill (34), Rajat Patidar (32), Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel (27 each) provided some help to the left-handed batter.
