London: The St. John’s Wood underground station next to Lord’s was buzzing with cricket fans two hours ahead of the start of the second day’s play on Friday. One could hear polarising opinions on the way out towards the ground. “If Root gets a double hundred, it could be another long day. Want to see Jamie Smith in quickly,” one of them was overheard saying. The general emotion of the crowd was to see more action and a faster pace of scoring than the dogged fight put up by England’s batsmen on Day One. The names of Rishabh Pant, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Smith could be heard again and again in the streets. A sizeable section of the crowd had even chanted “boring” towards the end of play on Day One, when England took stumps at 251/4.
The paying fans here have been pampered by fast-paced, entertaining cricket over the last few years. On Friday, they got what they wanted. Joe Root reached his century with a streaky boundary off the first ball of the day from Jasprit Bumrah. Subsequently, Bumrah removed Stokes, Root and Chris Woakes inside the first 30 minutes. Jamie Smith scored a typical entertaining fifty before Archer bowled an exhilarating opening spell on his Test comeback to dismiss Yashasvi Jaiswal with his third delivery. Things moved at a quicker pace than Day One, except the over rate. Two stunning catches by Joe Root and Smith ensured Karun Nair was dismissed for 40 and captain Shubman Gill for 16 respectively. The dismissals left India vulnerable after Bumrah set the pace up front in the day. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, however, chose to play out the day cautiously, and were batting on 53 off 113 and 19 off 33 respectively at stumps. India finished the day at 145/3 in response to England’s 387. The two teams played out another absorbing day of Test cricket. England’s improvisation on the field — with Smith standing up to Woakes when Gill and Pant were at the crease — matched the tactical brilliance of Bumrah, which fetched him 5/74 earlier in the day. Bumrah’s dismissal of Stokes for 43 and Root for 103 made for exciting cricket. Bumrah had to be the primary contender to first make things happen in the Test. He has seldom failed to live up to expectations, and Friday was no different. For starters, he got involved in planning the bowling response. The pitch clearly seemed to have quickened up from Day One. The spongy bounce had given way to the balls carrying brilliantly to the wicketkeeper on Day Two. That’s when Bumrah has often thrived in his career. England’s batters were cornered when Bumrah had reduced them to 271/7. The only blemish in the first hour’s play was KL Rahul dropping a catch from Smith’s bat at second slip off Mohammed Siraj. Gill’s inexperience as a Test captain came to the fore when he opened the field to No. 9 Brydon Carse, allowing Smith to farm the strike without much trouble. It led to an 84-run, eighth-wicket stand which ended with Smith edging Siraj to substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel. Carse, who scored 56 off 83 balls, hurt India the most.
