Arguably the finest bowler in the world, Jasprit Bumrah produced a fine cameo with the bat on Day 2 of the third Test against England, scoring 26 runs off just 28 balls. Exhibiting a rare display of his batting prowess, Bumrah registered 3 fours and 1 six during his stay in the middle, powering the Indian team to 445 runs in the first innings at Rajkot. Seeing Bumrah hit some exquisite shots, including a six down the ground, even India captain Rohit Sharma was quite impressed.
As Bumrah produced fireworks in the middle, it was Rohit's reaction that everyone started to talk about.
Having delivered with the bat, Bumrah would be key to India's plans with the ball, having taken 9 wickets in the second Test at Vizag. On the Visakhapatnam pitch, Bumrah looked unplayable at times, producing a few stunning deliveries, especially the one bowled to Ollie Pope in the first innings.
With the bat, Rohit Sharma (131) and Ravindra Jadeja (112) struck fine hundreds while debutant Sarfaraz Khan made a promising start to his Test career with an impressive 62 off 66 balls.
In his first international outing, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel too batted very well for a neat 46 off 104 balls and the seasoned Ravichandran Ashwin chipped in with 37 while sharing a 77-run partnership for the eighth wicket.
India resumed the second day on their overnight score of 326/5 with Jadeja and night-watchman Kuldeep Yadav (1) at the crease.
Both Jadeja and Kuldeep, however, got out at the start of second day as India slipped to 331/7.
Ashwin and Jurel then steadied the innings.
For England, returning pacer Mark Wood finished with figures of 4/114 in 27.5 overs.
With PTI inputs