IND vs ENG: Bumrah stops Bazball. For now.

As the clock struck 2:12 pm, Tom Hartley’s off-stump went for a walk. On a sun soaked Vizag pitch, Jasprit Bumrah stood with his arms out-stretched before the rest of his teammates mobbed him for one final time here. On a pitch that hardly showed any signs of coming to life, it was befitting that Bumrah (match figures of 9/91) gave finishing touches to a Test that he had single-handedly put India in control from Day 2 onwards. And on Monday, with the help of R Ashwin, he helped India finally overcome the Bazball blues, posting a series-levelling 106-run win. After two rounds, it reads India 1, England 1. And when the series resumes after a nine-day break in Rajkot, it would need a brave punter to put money on which way this will end.

If the jubilant celebrations in the middle showed the magnitude of this win that comes sans Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami, there were loud cries in the dressing room too. Head coach Rahul Dravid, who wasn’t known for his animated celebrations during his playing days, celebrated each England wicket on the final day pumping his fists with unbridled joy. What a difference one week makes.

CASTLED! ⚡️⚡️

Jasprit Bumrah wraps things up in Vizag as #TeamIndia win the 2nd Test and level the series 1⃣-1⃣#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @Jaspritbumrah93 | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/KHcIvhMGtD

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 5, 2024

As soon as they wrapped up the win, Dravid stood in the corner alongside skipper Rohit Sharma and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, engaging in a serious discussion. Despite the win that they have plenty to deliberate shows the potency of England’s Bazball and lack of clarity over the availability of Kohli and Jadeja for the remaining three Tests.

“Just a little bit better than the last game?” Dravid said as to how the team is responding to Bazball challenge. “I think they’re playing very well. It’s not like wild slogging. They are actually showing some very good skills. Some of the shots they are playing require a lot of skill and ability. You can’t just come there and execute those things and just say, ‘well, I want to play attackingly and not have the skills to execute it’. So I think there’s more to it than just attacking cricket. They know when to pull back, they know when to attack. So they’re playing slightly differently, no doubt about it, but they’ve been very successful. They know how to find that balance and we know we’re up against the challenge and we’re looking forward to it,” Dravid added.

This is why this win doesn’t certify that India have turned a corner. Like in Hyderabad, even here India rode mostly on individual brilliance, starting from Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 209 to Bumrah’s 9/91, Shubman Gill’s 104, Kuldeep Yadav’s 3/71 in the first innings and Ashwin’s 3/72 in the second after going wicketless in the first. For India to consistently keep Bazball in check, they need the sort of collective effort that made them invincible at home in the past.

There are plenty of concerns to address and holes to fix before they can confidently put their hands up and say they have answers to what Bazballers throw-up to them. But for the time being, India can definitely breathe a sigh of relief that they have not let England run-away with a huge lead, which looked a possibility at one point in Vizag before Bumrah unleashed a spell for the ages.

Cricket – Second Test – India v England – Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, India – February 5, 2024 India’s Jasprit Bumrah celebrates with Yashasvi Jaiswal after taking the wicket of England’s Tom Hartley to win the second Test. (REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas)

“I have always known that it is going to be a tough series. They have a lot of experienced players. It is one of the things we forget looking at their squad, three of them closing on 100 games and 184 (for James Anderson). Their spinners are young. It has been tough. We would like to be 2-0, but considering the cricket being played on both sides 1-1 is a fair position to be in” the head coach said.

It is definitely a fair position. Unlike Hyderabad, where India pressed the panic button under pressure, they resisted here. Having started Day 4 on Monday, needing 332 runs and nine wickets in hand in pursuit of a 399-run target that no team has chased ever before on Indian soil, England stayed true to themselves. As James Anderson revealed on Sunday, they had seen India to be vulnerable and not clear in their approach. So despite this being a daunting task, they still managed to create a bit of scare.

That England stayed back at the ground even three hours after the match ended, warming down with a game of football before they head off to Abu Dhabi for a six-day break showed how confident they stand in terms of their game.

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India’s vision is a bit blurred, more so in the absence of key players. Some like Shreyas Iyer are still fighting to keep their spot in the XI. Shubman Gill just about managed to save his career with a second-innings hundred. KS Bharat, the wicket-keeper, hasn’t quite grabbed the opportunities. Axar Patel is nowhere close to what he was when England toured here last and is merely playing because he can make useful contributions with bat. The rest of the series will either leave India confident about the immediate future or shove them back to a state of worry, searching for players good enough at this level. The stakes are that high.

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