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Bumrah has been the bully of the new ball, the executioner of reverse swing, the marauder of the middle, the soul and voice of the team. Outshining a group of spinners with a collective haul of 831 demonstrates the unsurpassed versatility of his craft. (PTI/Reuters)
IND v ENG: Jasprit Bumrah has been India’s headline act so far, now R Ashwin and Co in Ranchi weave their web
At different times during India’s practice session on Wednesday, their trifecta of spinners inspected the pitch for the Ranchi Test. A padded Kuldeep Yadav walked in first, waving his bat, took a couple of quick glances before hurrying towards the practice field, cutely named Oval. Ravindra Jadeja entered next, having concluded his session, he looked at the patch of dry grass. Ashwin stayed longer, probing the surface from various angles. In the absence of his best friend in this series, Bumrah, spinners would expect the pitch to dust off his old affection.
In fact, the spinners have played their supporting role in putting India up 2-1, but Bumrah has played the main role. He has not only been India’s leading wicket-taker but also the only bowler who looked capable of cutting through an attack. In a sense, all the talk of India offering a turner stems from Bumrah’s absence, from the question of whether the spinners alone could stop the Bazballers with a benign turner.
Bumrah has been the bully of the new ball, the executioner of reverse swing, the lurker in the middle, the soul and voice of the team. Outshining a group of spinners with a collective haul of 831 demonstrates the unsurpassed versatility of his craft. That India would miss him is an understatement: Vikram Rathour would sigh that they would have played him in every game if not for workload management. England would obviously be relieved: “It’s great not to see him here,” Ollie Pope would admit. It is difficult to think of a precedent where an Indian fast bowler was a more formidable proposition at home than his lineage of world spinners. (READ MORE)