Bumrah shoulders heavy load to underscore what India will miss
India will hopefully learn lessons of relentlessness in Test cricket from the experience of this match. By the time they have to play without Jasprit Bumrah, likely the third Test at Lord's, they will hope to put up a much more efficient performance in all three departments of the game. Until then, though, they have Bumrah to keep them alive. Even though they really did test his patience with their catching and the areas that the third and fourth seamers bowled.
Without Bumrah, the mistakes made by India on the last two days - with bat, ball and in the field - would have played them out of the match. It will be a rotten feeling in the change room given Bumrah is not going to be available for all the Tests. That shouldn't keep anyone from relishing another masterclass of seam and swing bowling.
Not just in the India side, Bumrah has been streets ahead of everyone on show in this Test. For somebody who must have a bit of self-preservation on his mind, Bumrah was the sharpest in pace: consistently the fastest bowler on display despite having to bowl slower balls on this relatively unyielding pitch and also among the three fastest deliveries in the first two innings of the match.
Root asked Pope if the 46-over-old ball was tailing. A little, he was told. Usually such lateral movement is used to swing the ball in. Bumrah flipped the darker side outside, and Root - possibly conscious of the tail - committed to playing it. This ball didn't swing at all, Root had it tracked, but it seamed away half-a-degree to take the edge.
Mark Wood, whom we would ideally have on the field rather than in the media box, just casually dropped a wonderful line on Sky Sports when Bumrah misfielded on day two. "He's human," Wood said. "I knew it." Further signs of being human were on display when he bowled successive no-balls deep into the second day - one of them a wicket ball - and an indifferent spell with the second new ball.
Bumrah admitted to not being used to bowling up or down the hill. He said that when you are tired, it can push you ahead of yourself. On the third morning, he was mindful to not let that happen. He maintained his pace when running downhill, and bowled no no-balls on day three.
