Fiery spell from Jasprit Bumrah send back Root, Pope and Bairstow, puts England in deep trouble 

There’s no sight more satisfying for a fast bowler than seeing stumps uprooted and a batter in all sorts of trouble. Jasprit Bumrah delivered a snorting Yorker to dismiss Ollie Pope of England during the second session of day 2. It truly doesn’t get any better than that.

Many batters believe they can see off Bumrah unscathed, but how often does that happen? He is relentless and certainly knows his job well. The more defensive and tentative a batter is, the greater the threat posed by the world-class bowler Bumrah.

Rohit Sharma is an astute captain; he understands the ABCs of test cricket in the subcontinent, where one wicket often brings another. So, when India was desperate for a breakthrough, a wild and mistimed slog from Zak Crawley led to his dismissal.

He had scored 78 off 78 balls, a job half done, but still a brilliantly played innings by the birthday boy who turned 26 on Saturday.

Now, who is at the crease? Ollie Pope, who despite facing 40 odd balls, hasn’t looked settled. On the other hand, Joe Root, undoubtedly a great batter, is going through a patchy phase.

It was a brilliant move from Rohit Sharma to understand that England might be on the backfoot and that this was the perfect time to bring back his strike bowler, Bumrah.

Joe Root, being tentative, is unsure which deliveries to leave and which ones to play. He is getting into all sorts of trouble by moving around a lot and keeping his hands away from his body. Trying to prod at an outside off delivery, Root edges it into the hands of Shubman Gill, who was stationed at second slip.

Then it was Ollie Pope’s turn. Similar to Joe Root, he was tentative and unsure whether to stay in the crease or counter the late reverse swing by coming forward. Before he could settle his bat under the ball, a snorting and loopy yorker uprooted his middle and leg stump.

There wasn’t much he could do to defend against that delivery; such is the sorcery of Jasprit Bumrah. What was bad became worse after tea when Bumrah sent Jonny Bairstow back to the pavilion. Bairstow has been too casual during this important test series.