England’s batters had no answer for the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah as India’s star paceman left the tourists in need of another dramatic turnaround in the second Test.
Ben Stokes’ side have made a virtue of never knowing when they are beaten – and overcame India’s 190-run lead to win last week’s series opener in Hyderabad – but found themselves back in familiar trouble as they were bowled out for 253 in Visakhapatnam.
That left them 143 behind after the first innings with India’s openers adding another 28 before the close.
Zak Crawley hit a free-flowing 78 on his 26th birthday and Stokes chipped another 47 off the deficit but Bumrah was almost unplayable at times as he claimed six for 45.
He served up a pace bowling clinic, getting the ball to reverse swing both ways at high speed and alternating between attacking the stumps and threatening the edge.
Ollie Pope suffered most extravagantly, with middle and leg sent flying as he groped at a toe-crusher, but he was not alone in finding Bumrah’s best too hot to handle.
At 114 for one and with Crawley motoring England were well positioned to take on India’s 396 but less than 34 overs later they were all out.
England took India’s last four wickets for 60 as James Anderson pre-empted Bumrah by showing off his own enduring skills. Handed a brand new ball in the morning the 41-year-old bowled eight overs unchanged, taking two for 17 in the latest reminder of his class.
He had the last word in a minor spat with Ravichandran Ashwin, who had been distracting him at the non-striker’s end before falling caught behind, and removed the brilliant Yashasvi Jaiswal for a match-defining 209.
The 22-year-old seems destined for cricketing superstardom but found out why so few have slogged Anderson and lived to tell the tale, stepping away and hacking straight to deep cover.
Anderson finished with impressive figures of three for 47, with Rehan Ahmed and debutant Shoaib Bashir wrapping things up to finish with three each.
England started their innings with a typically vibrant stand between Crawley and Ben Duckett, who put on 59 at a run-a-ball either side of the lunch break. Duckett could not kick on, popping Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist spin to silly point on 21, but Crawley was in fine form on the day he turned 26.
He needed a life on on 17 but the very next over saw him dispatch Bumrah for four boundaries. Crawley also slog-swept Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav for sixes but this was a sprint next to Jaiswal’s marathon.
The introduction of left-armer Axar Patel drew him into one big shot too many and he was well caught by the back-tracking Shreyas Iyer.
The ball had begun to take reverse swing and that meant trial by Bumrah. It took him only five balls to set up and knock over Joe Root, shaping a couple away in the channel then taking his outside edge with one that ducked back in and held its line.
Six balls later he summoned something even more spectacular to floor Pope, a match-winning centurion in Hyderabad. Fizzing in a furious yorker, he had Pope hopping on the crease as the ball snaked through and sent two stumps flying in opposite directions.
England survived until tea without further danger but the break in play merely allowed Bumrah to rest up and come again. Jonny Bairstow was next, following one that left him and threading to Shubman Gill at slip.
Pressure was building too fast for England’s liking and Yadav took advantage. Ben Foakes played inside the line and lost his off stump and Ahmed dragged a short ball straight to the midwicket catcher.
At 182 for seven, Stokes landed a few blows of his own and Tom Hartley shared the load in a stand of 47 but the resistance did not survive Bumrah’s return.
After one sighter he lit the crowd up again, coming round the wicket and knocking back Stokes’ off stump with one that scuttled through lower than expected. The England skipper let the bat fall from his hands and shrugged in disbelief before making his way to the pavilion.
Bumrah sealed his five-for at his next visit, Hartley off a thick edge, and closed the innings when Anderson fell lbw. Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma negotiated five overs at the end of the day, stretching the lead to 171 by stumps.
Babar's captain's innings leads Pakistan to victory as series drawn with New Zealand
Babar Azam top scored as he led his Pakistan team to a nine-run victory over New Zealand in Lahore that saw the five-game T20I series end in a draw.
Babar hit 69 runs off 44 balls before being bowled by Ben Sears, smashing six fours and two sixes to take his team to 123/3 at the time of his dismissal.
Fakhar Zaman (43 from 33) and Usman Khan (31 off 24) also chipped in with important innings as Pakistan ended on 178/5.
With a target of 179 to secure a 3-1 series victory, New Zealand's run chase faltered almost immediately as opener Tom Blundell was removed within the first over with his team having managed just five runs on the board.
Blundell's fellow opener Tim Seifert steadied the ship with a vital 52-run innings off 33 deliveries before being bowled by Usama Mir, but Shaheen Shah Afridi led the way for Pakistan, finishing with figures of 4-30 to stem the New Zealand run chase
Josh Clarkson's 38 off 26 set up a nervy conclusion, but Pakistan held on to avoid defeat in the T20 series as the teams share the spoils at two wins apiece after the first game was abandoned.
IPL: Fraser-McGurk leads the way as Capitals hold off Mumbai
Delhi Capitals withstood Mumbai Indian’s late surge and held on for a 10-run victory at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Jake Fraser-McGurk top-scored with 84 – hitting 50 off just 15 balls – while Tristan Stubbs (48) and Shai Hope (41) also chipped in with important contributions as the Capitals set a target of 258.
Mukesh Kumar (3/59) and Rasikh Salam (3/34) did their best to halt Mumbai’s revival, but they turned up the pressure to require 25 runs from the final over.
However, despite Luke Wood and Piyush Chawla’s best efforts, Delhi held out for a second successive win.
Data debrief
Wood almost made amends after conceding 68 runs during the opening innings – the joint-most in the IPL this season, matching Reece Topley’s tally against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Tilak Varma led Mumbai’s attempted revival with 63 for his sixth half-century in the IPL, though they have all come in defeats
Chase outdone by opposite number Paudel as West Indies A suffer four-wicket loss to Nepal
West Indies A’s tour of Nepal got off to an unfortunate start, after they suffered a four-wicket loss to their host in a high scoring opening fixture of their five-match Twenty20 series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on Saturday.
Set a formidable 204 by West Indies A, Nepal’s thrilling victory, which was set up by a captain’s knock from Rohit Paudel, etched their names in the history books, as they successfully got to their target at 206-6 with two balls to spare.
Paudel smashed a 54-ball 112, including 10 fours and two sixes to see his team to a 1-0 lead in the series, which West Indies Head coach Darren Sammy said offers his team a chance to define roles and personnel more clearly for their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad.
However, the Caribbean side’s all-round effort was found wanting, as only captain Roston Chase (74), Alick Athanaze (47) and Keacy Carty (38) offered any resistance with the bat, while only Obed McCoy (2-34) and Matthew Forde (2-49) had some semblance of success with the ball.
Scores: West Indies A 204-5 (20 overs); Nepal 206-6 (19.4 overs)
Asked to take first strike, after losing the toss, West Indies A suffered an early blow, as they lost Johnson Charles (zero) off the last ball of the opening over, with 16 runs on the board. Andre Fletcher (13) stuck two sixes off five balls, before he too departed via the run-out route, leaving West Indies A at 43-2 in the fourth over.
However, Athanaze went about business, striking three sixes and five fours in a 25-ball knock, as he put on 43 for the third wicket with Chase, prior to his demise. From there, Chase and Carty added another 60 runs in a fourth-wicket stand that defined the innings.
Carty’s 38 off 26 balls, included two fours and three sixes, while Chase, who anchored the innings with a captain’s knock, struck nine fours and two sixes in his 46-ball 74. Kadeem Alleyne, on 14, and Keemo Paul, one, were left not out.
No Nepal bowler took more than one wicket.
With runs on the board, West Indies A would have felt confident of wrapping up a win, even more so, after Forde and McCoy combined to remove openers Anil Sah (five) and Kushal Bhurtel (16) to have Nepal at 38-2 in the fifth over.
West Indies remained in the ascendancy when Fletcher and Charles combined to run out Kushal Malla (16), leaving their host on the ropes at 82-3 at the halfway mark.
However, Paudel showed class, in not only reviving his team’s innings, but pushed them all the way with some aggressive stroke play, assisted by wayward bowling from West Indies A attack at times. Dipendra Singh Airee (24) offered support to his captain in getting Nepal across the line for a famous victory.
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