India 396 (Jaiswal 209) and 28 for 0 (Jaiswal 15*, Rohit 13*) lead England 253 (Crawley 76, Bumrah 6-45) by 171 runs
In the midst of India’s surprise loss in Hyderabad, Bumrah’s six wickets across two innings had been a warning as to where the true threat in India’s attack would lie. So it proved at Visakhapatnam on what had been touted as a spinners’ paradise, as Bumrah piled that same haul into one sensational display, springing the trap on England’s batters with the insuperable figures of 6 for 45 in 15.5 overs.
All six of those came in the space of 71 deliveries across his final three micro-spells – a howling, hustling display of express-paced reverse swing in which the cream of England’s batting were simply bereft of answers. Joe Root’s audible groan as he snicked an outswinger to first slip, having aligned himself to Bumrah’s initial shape into his pads, confirmed the extent to which even England’s kingpin had been outplayed, but it was Bumrah’s subsequent extraction of England’s first-Test hero Ollie Pope – blasted from the crease by an unplayable inswinging yorker – which proved that, just occasionally, the danger is too acute even for this team to keep running towards it.
By the close, India’s first-innings lead of 143 had been stretched to 171 without further loss in five overs, with Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma feasting on perhaps the first demoralised passage of play that England have allowed to slip into their endlessly optimistic attitude.
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