Test cricket is supposed to be cruel. This is a key aspect of its beauty. This thing hurts. It will seek out your weakest points and then very carefully and skilfully gouge its nails into the wound. But is it meant to be this cruel?
There was something tender, painful and even a little disturbing about what Jasprit Bumrah did to Marnus Labuschagne during the first Border-Gavaskar Test in Perth. In the space of 23 Bumrah deliveries Labuschagne was dropped, hit in the ribs, beaten five times, left scoreless, and basically de-cricketed, reduced to a series of formless movements, stabbing at the ball like an under-gardener swatting midges in the dark.
Eventually he was dismissed lbw, not playing a shot. By that point he may as well have had a baguette in his hand. If there is some comfort for Australia's No 3 in all this then, well, at least he wasn't alone.
As Australia stumble, a little bruised and fractious, into the 10-day break between Perth and the second Test in Adelaide it is probably worth scrolling back through every ball of Bumrah's new-ball spell on day one. First because Australia's top order looked utterly spooked, unable to read any of the lines, angles or movement. But mainly because it was basically a piece of art.
Australia seemed ahead of the game as the openers began their reply to India's doomed-looking 154. At which point Bumrah decided something else was going to happen, setting off on that familiar stuttering run, a man riding an imaginary horse, coconut halves clopping. With six paces to go he still looks like he's about to bowl off-breaks.
Denne historien er fra November 28, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra November 28, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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