
After a decent start to their batting innings, England have taken a major stumble as Jasprit Bumrah ran riot on Day 2 of the ongoing Visakhapatnam Test on Saturday (Feb 3). Bumrah, who struggled with injuries in 2023 did not wastetime to make his presence feltin 2024 and was seen in great touch on Saturday. His eye-catching display saw him dismiss both in-form Joe Root and Ollie Pope and help the hostassert their dominance over the contest.
On the penultimate ball of the 28th over, a sublime yorker from Bumrah caught Pope by surprise as the batter failed to judge the flight of the delivery. The unplayable yorker saw Pope’s wickets get dismantled anddent England’s hopes of scoring a big total. Pope, who played a match-winning knock of 196 runs in the Hyderabad Test was dismissed for 23 off 55 and returned to the pavilion frustrated.
The wicket came in the aftermath of Root’s wicket who was dismissed in the previous over by Bumrah on 5. This was the eighth time Bumrah got the better of Root in the red-ball format as he continued his impressive run against the former England captain. Bumrah would soon get Jonny Bairstow’s wicket as well leaving the visitors struggling at 159/5.
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At the time of writing, England were 167/5 and still trail by 229 runs in the first innings with five wickets in hand. Captain Ben Stokes (14) and Ben Foakes (1) were in the middletrying to makeanother solid comeback.
Earlier, India were bowled out for 396 in 112 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring his maiden double ton in the Test format. He scored 209 before beingscalped by James Anderson who ended his spell with three wickets. Interestingly, Shubman Gill’s 34 was the second highest score for India, highlighting the batting flaws.
Like Anderson, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed also ended with three wickets each while Tom Hartley got the remaining solitary wicket.