London, July 11: Jasprit Bumrah’s menacing morning spell resulted in a five-wicket haul as India bowled out England for 387 despite Joe Root’s 37th hundred on the second day of the third Test here on Friday. After Bumrah (5 for 74) eclipsed Kapil Dev’s record of 12 five-wicket hauls on foreign soil, India were steady in their reply, reaching 44 for 1 at tea break.
In all, Bumrah now has 15 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket and he has achieved the milestone in back-to-back Tests that he has played, including the one at Leeds.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) was Jofra Archer’s first victim on comeback to Test cricket but seasoned KL Rahul (13 batting) and Karun Nair (18 batting) went into the break unscathed.
Nair, however, did look in some sort of discomfort against both Archer and his nemesis Brydon Carse, who got it to rear up awkwardly from back of length.
But the morning certainly belonged to the peerless Bumrah, who was rested during the Edgbaston Test as a part of the workload management programme.
While Root (104 off 199 balls) got the boundary off the very first delivery to score his eighth hundred — most by any batter at the Lord’s — it was Bumrah’s turn to ensure his name in the esteemed ‘Honours Board’ with a three-wicket burst that reduced England to 271 for 7 at one stage.
Skipper Ben Stokes (44), Root and Chris Woakes (0) were gone in quick succession before in-form Jamie Smith (51 off 56 balls) and Carse (56 off 83 balls) added 84 for the eighth wicket stand to take the hosts past the 350-run mark.
Smith was given a lifeline when Rahul dropped the wicket-keeper batter off Mohammed Siraj. Stokes was the first batter to be dismissed on the day.
One ball after he square cut Bumrah for a four, Stokes got a beauty from the Indian pace spearhead that seamed back in from round the wicket to hit the top of off-stump. There was nothing Stokes could do apart from shaking his head.
Root got out soon after reaching a record eighth Test hundred at Lord’s off the first delivery of the day. Bumrah drew Root forward but the ball came back to take the inside edge before uprooting the middle-stump.
It was the 11th time that Bumrah had got the better of England’s best batter in Tests.
The very next ball Woakes was caught behind, a faint tickle chasing a ball wide on the off-stump.
It was surprising that Shubman Gill wanted a ball change despite that second new Dukes ball being only around 10 overs old. The umpires accepted his request but the Indians were not happy with the replacement ball leading to an animated conversation between Gill and the umpires as England reached 307 for seven in the opening hour.
Soon after, the ball was changed for the second time in the session, adding to the debate over the balls used in England.
To their credit, Smith and Carse batted confidently against the Indian pacers with their ability to drive the ball through the covers standing out. (PTI)
