The fifth day’s play of the second Test between England and India at Lord’s promised a lot of action and by lunch, it delivered on that promise. There was action not only with the bat and ball but also with the player engaging in heated verbal war.
The day started with Ollie Robinson getting rid of dangerman Rishabh Pant for 22 runs and then removed Ishant Sharma for 16 runs. The England team might have thought that this was the end of the rope for India at 209/8 with a paltry lead for them
But then, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah came together and England bowlers anticipated a quick surrender by the Indian tail. They also seemed to remember that Jasprit Bumrah had bowled an over full of bouncers at England’s star pacer James Anderson.
In a bid for giving it back to him, the England bowlers tried to pepper Bumrah with short stuff and even engaged with both Bumrah and Shami verbally as well, with umpires trying to calm both sides down. Buttler, Anderson, and Wood kept going at Bumrah and Shami and in return gave away unnecessary runs.
As the innings progressed, both the Indian batsmen gained confidence and played some good-looking shots with Shami hitting his second Test half-century and his highest Test score as well. On the other hand, Bumrah showed his value with the bat despite getting hit on the helmet twice.
The duo added 77* runs in 111 balls for the 9th wicket and frustrated England captain Joe Root, who also set some weird fields for two tailenders.
At lunch, both Bumrah and Shami walked back to the pavilion amidst applause from teammates in the balcony and received pats on the back from them. The score read 286/8 and India leading by 259 runs, with the session clearly belonging to the visitors.
The Cricket fraternity was in awe of the fightback showed by Bumrah and Shami and showered the duo with praise on Twitter.
Here are some of the best tweets:
