India‘s dominance in the second Test against England, where they have set an emphatic target of 399 runs to stand on the verge of levelling the five-match contest, has been down to three individual performances. While the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill have starred with the bat, scoring their respective centuries in either innings, Jasprit Bumrah stood out with the ball on a relatively flat deck in Visakhapatnam. It was, in fact, on Day 2 when world cricket witnessed another pace-bowling masterclass from the India star, with his yorker delivery to dismiss Ollie Pope going viral on social media. It also caught the attention of Pakistan legend Waqar Younis, who responded to the video of that wicket in an epic fashion.
Bumrah was on a record-breaking spree on Saturday, where he became the fastest Indian bowler to 150 Test wickets, became the Indian fast bowler with the second-most five-wicket hauls in the format, and then scripted his best-ever show on home soil with 6 for 45.
En route to the bowling figure, Bumrah left Pope, England’s star batter from the Hyderabad Test, clueless with a perfect yorker that castled down the leg and middle stump using the reverse swing.
A popular sports producer later shared a clip of that dismissal on social media and tagged Waqar, asking if the dismissal reminded him of his yesteryears. But the Pakistan great was all praise for Bumrah. He wrote: “Can’t think of anyone. Bumrah’s Magic!”
Bumrah dismissed all of England’s best batters on Day 2, which included No. 3 to 6 and the running through the lower order. Yet his favourite dismissal was that of Joe Root, who was more concerned about the reverse swing but as undone by the delivery that nipped the other way.
“Joe Root’s,” he told the host broadcaster, “Because we understand it’s an important wicket in this Test match. He’s a world-class batter and we know on this wicket, to get his wicket was really important because the wicket isn’t doing a lot. It’s a slow wicket. We understood that was an important phase and if we get him out that leaves you in an advantage there. We understand how important he is for the England team so very happy with that.”
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