It was an historic day for Jasprit Bumrah as he wore the captaincy blazer for the first time. Bumrah became the 36th Indian captain after stepping to replace Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out due to COVID. The match is a significant one for India as they stand on the cusp of a rare series win in England. A feat which, last was accomplished under the current India coach Rahul Dravid during the 2007 tour, when Dravid was the captain. Bumrah got a huge cheer from the crowd once he came out for the toss with Ben Stokes the English captain.
Bumrah fact checks Butcher –
India lost the toss after Stokes called correctly and put into bat on a day with cloud cover over the head of the players. England had already named their XI a day before the game. Mark Butcher was conduction the toss and in stepped Jasprit Bumrah to have his say. Butcher asked Bumrah about his reaction to become the first fast bowling captain for India. To which Bumrah replied that Kapil Dev had already led the side as a fast bowler 3 decades earlier. Bumrah became the 2nd fast bowling captain after Kapil Dev who led India in 1986 during the tour of England.
England have won the toss & elected to bowl. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/KYG4yBEeTG
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) July 1, 2022
India end the day at 338 for 7 after a commanding display by Pant –
Speaking at the toss Bumrah further said “It’s a good feeling, a massive achievement, it can’t get better than this, very excited. Very happy with the preparation, wanted to get used to the England weather [at Leicester]. just the mental aspect,” It was a decent start for the latest opening pair of India in Gill and Pujara. The duo added 27 for the opening wicket, before Gill needlessly poked at an Anderson delivery to be caught by Crawley. Pujara was prized out by Anderson when he was caught by Crawley for a painstaking 12. Vihari batting at three was taking his time before against the run of play he was caught leg before falling to Potts. Kohli scored 11 before misfortune struck and he tried to shoulder arms to a ball from Potts, only to get an edge and the ball roll back to the stumps. (read here - https://cricketcult.com/news/Watch!-Twitter-give-their-opinion-as-Virat-Kohli%E2%80%99s-bad-luck/cid7949368.htm ).
Iyer tried to dominate but he was caught in a leg side trap by Billings of Anderson. At 98 for 5, it looked the end was near, but Pant and Jadeja had other ideas. The duo combined to add 222 runs for the 6th wicket and totally take the game out of England’s hands. The stand off 222 runs came from 231 balls as England not only lost the plot, but also looked tired and deflated. Pant scored his test century number 5 and 4th away from home in just 89 balls. Root got the key wicket of Pant caught in the slips for 146 which came from 111 balls with 3 sixes and 18 fours. One of the sixes he hit was a huge 101 meter one handed effort of Jack Leach (watch the video here - https://cricketcult.com/news/Watch!-Rishabh-Pant-smack-a-huge-one-handed-six-into-the/cid7951008.htm ). Jadeja was not out on 83 from 163 balls with 11 fours after having played the 2nd fiddle to Pant. Keeping Jadeja company was Shami who is on 0 from 11 balls. India ended the day at 338 for 7 from 73 overs with n health run rate of 4.63.