No Bumrah, no problem! Akash Deep & Siraj stand up, deliver deadly opening spells at Edgbaston
Siraj hadn’t taken a wicket with the new ball in his last 5 Test matches but came good in Bumrah’s absence along with Akash Deep.
When Shubman Gill confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah won’t be playing at Edgbaston, everyone was worried. Who’ll take the wickets now? Was the immediate thought. Despite Bumrah taking a five-for in the first innings at Headingley, England still scored 465 runs. When the ace pacer couldn’t take a wicket in the second innings, the hosts chased down 371 with relative ease.
If not Bumrah, then who?
On placid wickets like the ones produced, no score looked safe. So even after Shubman Gill’s double hundred took India to 587 in the first innings at Edgbaston, no one was certain about India’s chances. Mohammed Siraj had failed to take a wicket with the new ball in the first Test. Prasidh Krishna was wayward and doesn’t bowl with the new ball either.
Akash Deep, who was selected as Bumrah’s replacement, had bowled well in his short Test career. Although he couldn’t find the required wicket in Australia, considering his ability to seam the ball and the kind of control he provides, his selection over Arshdeep Singh made sense.
Akash sinks England ‘deep’
And boy did he prove the Indian management right. After an inconsistent first over, which went for 12 runs, Akash hit his stride. Bowling from over the wicket to Ben Duckett, the right-arm pacer brought three balls into the opener and then got one to seam away just a little.
Duckett, who doesn’t like to leave many balls, instinctively went to play the ball and edged it to Shubman Gill at third slip. Considering India wasn’t able to take a wicket in 42.1 overs the last time they bowled to England, Akash had given a flying start.
Taking over from Bumrah isn’t possible but you can’t do better than taking a wicket in the 4th over on a surface where 271 runs were scored for 5 wickets in the day by India. But Akash did one better.
On the very next ball, he got Ollie Pope as well. Known as a nervous starter, the English number three looked to flick a full ball at the off stump. The ball just didn’t come in as Pope expected and he edged it to second slip, with KL Rahul taking a catch after a fumble.
Siraj fires, at last
Siraj hadn’t been pulling his weight for a while. Living in Bumrah’s shadow, he was doing well but not enough. Without the leader of the pack, he took more responsibility. Not only did he get Zak Crawley’s wicket by consistently pitching the ball outside the off, but he also kept his economy in control.
In his opening 7-over spell, Siraj gave away a mere 21 runs. This includes 2 maiden and 35 dots. Unlike in Headingley, where he gave away 23 runs in the first four overs, at Edgbaston, Siraj was on the money from the get-go. He hardly bowled at the pads, sticking to a stump-to-stump line more often than not.
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