Virat Kohli trusted Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball not once but twice during second day’s play against Australia at Adelaide. He went wicketless in his first spell in the morning but made a strong comeback with a slightly older ball, prompting Kohli to again trust him with the second new ball and this time, Bumrah did not disappoint.
In the first over with the second new ball, Bumrah broke Australia’s biggest partnership of the day with a delivery that came back in sharply with the angle, hitting Cummins on the knee roll. That the tall Australian fast bowler did not offer a shot, made it a no-brainer for umpire Nigel Llong, who raised his finger even before Bumrah could trouble his vocal cords. Cummins’ took the review more in hope than being confident but the replays confirmed the inevitable.
Couple of balls preceding the big in-dipper were as important as the one that got Cummins. Bumrah set him up nicely, bowling his first two deliveries with the new cherry wide outside off stump, trying to draw Cummins into a false short. Cummins did the resist the temptation but he did not expect Bumrah to use the angle by going wide of the crease to make the ball jag back in sharply from around the fifth stump.
The wicket brought India closer to a first innings lead. The repair job that Cummins and Head had done with their 50-stand after Australia were reduced to 127 for 6 was undone by Bumrah aided by second new ball.
India, after being bowled out for their overnight score of 250, hit back hard at Australia just like Bumrah. The Gujarat fast bowler went for 24 runs in his first five overs but in his next 15, he bowled 9 maidens, giving away only 10 runs with the wickets of Peter Handscomb and Pat Cummins to his name.
Australia were 191 for 7 at stumps on Day 2, still 59 runs behind India’s first innings total