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ENG vs IND, 2nd Test: Short Balls, Verbal Shots and in between | Lords Test

The night before the final day, Bumrah made a mess. So much so that one would wonder if he was auditioning for The Hundred. The mess charged Anderson. An ever-active Stuart Broad turned to the little bird app to post an angry tweet, giving away the sense of what was on stores.

When Virat Kohli told “This isn’t your Fu’king backyard, it fuelled his anger. After all, Lords’ IS his backyard. It was supposed to be his day. It was supposed to be England’s day. They were halfway there.

Suddenly, a dogged resistance from two experienced batters brought back the draw on the table. When Pujara gets into that zone, it’s hard to breakthrough. This time, He took Rahane along for a ride, a slow walk. After a fine 200-plus minute walk, Wood interrupted their romance and got rid of them.

In Australia, Rishabh Pant’s wicket was the costliest. This time, when he had left the stage, India was just 182 runs ahead. England were just two wickets away. Two tail-enders.

As Bumrah walked in, the memories of the previous night, pushed England to a brain fade phase. Bumrah grew on them.

At first, Haseeb Hameed had to tie shoelaces for him. Probably, that was the last time both teams were nice to each other. A couple of deliveries into Robinson’s over, he was smiling. Soon, shots were fired at Bumrah. First with the ball then verbally. Wood inaugurated the attack with his speed while Anderson’s anger came through the ball as he went for Bumrah’s body. Tit for tat. Not much.

Short ball after short ball. And Bumrah survived every single attack by putting his bat in between the ball and his body. For the verbal shots, Michael Gough got in between.

Bumrah did get some on his body. A couple of brutal blows to the helmet. He continued. Bumrah was supposed to feel bad, but it was Root who had all the feels. His head spun when Shami took on Ali. Probably, because Root had dropped Bumrah a few minutes ago.

Kohli was watching every single move from the top, and he knew England had fallen from their trap. The trap which the team has been using since their Australian series. Root must have called Paine before getting into all these. After all, it all took a single “See you at the Gabba” for the players to bring out their inner-Kohli.

As the pair walked back to a roaring response from the team, India knew they were well into the minds of the England team. Whenever the tail-enders bat this way, it gives a different level of optimism. Especially, when your tail averages in single-digit even after playing for years.

England’s top-order scores in recent times have been a joke. Not the kind of joke you’d laugh at, but the one that frustrates you and makes you wonder, “how did they get here now?”.

Rory Burns had his fifth duck of the year. Sibley walked back even before the umpire’s call. Haseeb Hameed couldn’t make use of the drop catch and joined Jonny Bairstow to become the LBW victims for Ishant Sharma.

Joe Root, the team’s main man, couldn’t survive a beauty from Bumrah and the match was half over by then. From smiles to stoical acceptance, Root did show some range that day.

And then All Moeen Ali could manage was an hour of batting. That included a caught behind during a no-ball. However, he never looked comfortable and puzzled. Looked more puzzled than the Valimai Update incident.

Robinson, who came to face the hattrick ball from Siraj survived and received a not-so-good welcome from Kohli. The latter was waiting for it. Of course, this is a team that doesn’t wait around but loves giving back. His fate was then sealed by Bumrah’s off-cutter when he came around the wicket.

Buttler was going around all alone. Things he had said to the Indian players would have played on a loop inside his head. While he was on the hell’s guilt trip, Kohli and co. didn’t have to do much. In fact, they gave him a chance. After 90-minutes of hell, Buttler fell on earth when Siraj got better of him.

As the Siraj changed the angle to Anderson, making the delivery straighten past the edge, the latter already knew what was going to happen, but he couldn’t do much. As he tried to defend, the ball was already in contact with his off-stump.

Siraj extended his run-up to steal a stump and began to run again. From the barrage of bouncers, verbal violence to turning a batting bunny into a bully, England did everything because… emotions. This will haunt England, maybe, not forever at least until Headingley.

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