The results pendulum swung in all directions before finally ebbing the way of the visitors following some riveting day five action of Test cricket between India and England at Lord's. Every direction that the Indian captain Virat Kohli looked- he found a hero to carry the team, but none would have been more unlikely that the 'batting' duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
Lauded regularly for their bowling exploits, the pace duo were tasked with salvaging the Indian second innings. Having lost Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma early on day five, India were in all sorts of trouble with the score at 209/8.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami however added an unbeaten 89 runs for the 9th wicket, before India declared their innings at 298/8. Both Bumrah and Shami showed some steely resolve and astute application to snatch the game away from the hosts.
Shami was the more aggressive of the duo, as the pacer from Uttar Pradesh hit six fours and a mammoth six off Moeen Ali's bowling in his innings. Sans any reckless hitting, the 30-year-old played a few textbook cover drives and cuts, taking the game away from England with every passing over.
Despite playing some of the best bowlers in the world in James Anderson, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson, both Shami and Bumrah resolutely performed with bat in hand to give the hosts an improbable target of 272 runs.
A partnership to remember for ages for @Jaspritbumrah93 & @MdShami11 on the field and a rousing welcome back to the dressing room from #TeamIndia.
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2021
What a moment this at Lord's 👏👏👏#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/biRa32CDTt
Calling this partnership crucial would be an understatement. It has changed the complexion of the game! Well done @MdShami11 and @Jaspritbumrah93!
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 16, 2021
Go for it #TeamIndia. 🇮🇳#ENGvIND
With a little less than two full sessions left in the game, India's pacers bowled out of their skin to bowl out England in the dying overs of the day.
The bowling platoon was led by the same heroes- Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami who accounted for the wickets of the English openers to start the fall of wickets.
Bumrah dismissed Rory Burns in the very first over of the innings, and that was followed by Shami having the number of Dominic Sibley in his first over, as England faltered at 1-2. Shami bowled with great discipline to ensure the new English batters were always under the cosh.
Fellow pacers Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Siraj accounted for the rest of the majority of the forthcoming English wickets, as the hosts were skittled out for 120 runs. Team India managed to win the second Test with just nine overs to spare to go one up in the five match series.
While the entire Indian bowling pack had their part to play in that second innings, it was the dogged fightback from their tailenders, led by a stupendous fifty by Mohammed Shami that won the team a riveting Test match.