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The ongoing first Test between India and England is the first-ever Test in home conditions for pace sensation Jasprit Bumrah. The right-armer had appeared in 17 Tests before entering the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
Bumrah claimed two wickets on the opening day when he dismissed Dan Lawrence (0) and Dom Sibley (87).
The Ahmedabad-lad began the second day with a high note and bowled a pretty economical spell. During the 92nd over of England innings, Bumrah almost castled Ben Stokes’ stumps with a toe-crushing yorker.
It was just the third over of the second day, and Stokes was playing on nought. Bumrah came round the wicket and completely surprised the English all-rounder. However, Stokes was lucky that he survived the inch-perfect yorker.
Here is the video:
Bumrah almost got rid of Stokes here.#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/NE9NfR6k0P
— Lofted drive (@DriveLofted) February 6, 2021
Saliva ban made it difficult to maintain the ball: Bumrah
Earlier, England skipper Joe Root showcased outstanding batting on Day 1 and smashed a scintillating century in his 100th Test. The 30-year-old was well supported by opener Sibley. The touring side posted 263/3 at stumps with Root staying unbeaten on 128.
After the end of day’s play, Bumrah admitted that bowlers found it challenging to maintain the ball’s shiny side after ICC banned the use of saliva in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.
“It becomes difficult when the ball becomes soft and doesn’t shine really well because of new COVID-19 rules; we can’t use saliva, very difficult during that time to maintain the ball.”
“The ball did become soft after a while, and the wicket is on flatter side with the bounce being less. You are left with limited options (to shine ball). We are trying to figure out what we can do with the limited things in hand, at that time,” Bumrah had said in the virtual press-conference.
