Indian ace quick Jasprit Bumrah unveiled the beast inside him with bat in hand and smashed England’s Stuart Broad for a 35-run over, the most expensive ever in Test match history.
The barely believable over was seen on Day 2 of the Edgbaston Test between India and England on July 2, with Bumrah not holding himself back and absolutely hammering Broad in an over that featured four fours and two sixes off the batter’s willow, including on a no-ball, alongside five wides.
Facing Broad, England’s second-highest Test wicket-taker ever, from the over-the-wicket angle, Bumrah looked prepared for the series of bouncers that the England bowlers were about to dish out at him and his lower-order mates near the close of the Indian first-innings.
He got away from the line of the ball slightly, but Broad followed him to try and cramp the right-hander for room. Adjusting swiftly to the ploy, Bumrah started pulling and hooking Broad for boundaries behind square on the on-side.
For the first one, he pulled Broad for a boundary between the two fielders protecting the deep fine leg region. Broad still persisted with the short ball ploy and ended up offering India a freebie of five wides.
One legal delivery into the over, it seemed Broad had taken Bumrah hoicking him on his ego, as the fast-bowler kept trying to get one up on the lower-order batter and kept getting smashed. He again tried the short-ball, only to be dispatched for a six behind the keeper’s back, with the umpire declaring it a frontfoot no-ball to add salt to the bowler’s injury.
Next ball, Broad tried to mix things up with an attempted yorker. But it failed so miserably that Bumrah ended up hitting the full toss at a comfortable height for four runs through to the vacant long-on region.
As commentators tend to advise bowlers to do when a tailender is doing his thing, Broad resurrected to try and bowl the channel outside the off-stump for the following delivery. But this time, the batter enjoyed a splice of luck and got a thick inside edge that ran away for a four next to the keeper.
Broad couldn’t believe what was going on and offered a grin towards Bumrah that reflected his pain and agony. As a last resort, the fast-bowler tried to go around-the-wicket and targetted Bumrah’s head. But that also didn’t prove any fruitful for him, as the Indian lower-order batter dispatched him for a four through the square leg region, followed by a six over the deep fine-leg fielder’s head.
At this point, already, Bumrah had recorded the most expensive over scored against a bowler in Test cricket history, eclipsing the legendary Brian Lara in an elite list. He had smashed South African left-arm spinner Robin Petersen for a 28-run in a Test match in Johannesburg.
Bumrah went seven runs up on the West Indies batting maestro, taking a quick single off the last ball against Broad to retain the strike for the next over batting alongside No.11 Mohammed Siraj.
Bumrah finished with an enterprising 31 off 16 deliveries, featuring four fours and two sixes. His knock provided the final touches to an Indian recovery for the ages, as the visitors went for 98/5 on Day 1 of the Test match to end with a massive 416 all out, thanks largely to incredible hundreds from Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja.
