ENG vs IND | When 'Bazzball' crossed paths with relentless fury of Indian seamers

So, how good was it? Freakish? Insane? Barely believable? Naah, scrap that. Because it is believable. It happens all the time these days. Perhaps the right term to describe the passage of play after the Tea break on a rain-interrupted 2nd day of the Edgbaston is…..'Indian-esque'.

Because, how else do you describe something that keeps happening all the time with another adjective? How else do you describe something that's as inevitable as death with some other term?

On Saturday evening, the Indian seamers, especially the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, did what Indian seamers do these days: shoot laser-guided missiles at batsmen with hostility and relentlessness that would make even the erstwhile great West Indian bowlers beam with pride.

Just 38.5 overs of play was possible on the second day of the Edgbaston Test, out of which 27 were bowled by the Indians.

It may look like just 27 overs or 167 deliveries (including 5 no balls) to you, but if you ask a Joe Root or a Jonny Bairstow or a Jack Leach, who faced just 5 deliveries, they'd perhaps say it felt like facing a million deliveries.

It helped that frequent rain breaks ensured that Jasprit and Shami kept coming back with even more venom than their previous stints.

Bumrah, who earlier in the day had smashed his way to a world record 35 runs in one Stuart Broad- was once again at his imperious best, relentlessly testing both edges of the bat while inviting the batsmen to drive by pitching it full.

It was risk vs reward, and while he did overstep a few times, he more than made up for it by dismissing Alex Lees (bowled) and Ollie Pope (driving away from his body) off the extra delivery. Between all this, Zak Crawley did what Zak Crawley always does: drive with hard hands and give catching practice to the cordon.

The real action, however, began in the final after the extended rain delay as Shami joined Jasprit to unleash hell on Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow with 90 mph nip-backers moving in both directions.

Shami was guilty of bowling a bit short before the Tea break, and as a result, he harmlessly kept missing the bat. 

According to data shown on live TV, Shami delivered just 7% of his deliveries in the full-length region. That percentage grew to 22 after the break, and the result was for everyone to see.

In short, the passage of play after Tea where Bumrah and Shami kept cutting Bairstow and Root into the half with their laser-guided nip-backers was the peak of the Indian seam-bowling revolution.

A relentless, hostile, almost cruel display against two batters who had just butchered the Kiwi attack to the tune of 3 275+ successful run-chases; in many ways, it was a rude reminder of dark days of English batting for the thousands of host supporters in the stadium.

While Bumrah kept attacking Bairstow with his pin-point 85 mph+ nip-backers and an occasional yorker, Shami sliced Root into half multiple times with the same as a four-over maiden spell ensued.

Root survived a few close calls, but such was the execution by the Indian seamers that the champion batsman never looked in any sort of control for most parts of his 67-ball stay.

His ordeal was eventually ended by Mohammed Siraj, who got one to nip and bounce sharply into the right-hander, who tried to cut it but ended up fending it to Pant, who was sensational behind the stumps today.

Shami kept breathing fire from the other end with little luck. He nearly dismissed Bairstow with a nip-backer that nearly dislodged the stumps and Jack Leach, who was dropped by Virat Kohli in the slips.

Shami eventually dismissed Leach when he got one to straighten after landing, forcing the left-hander to nick it.

Shami's figures at the close of play read: 13-3-33-1. Hardly extraordinary, right? Try telling that to English batters and their loyalists.

Since the start of 2018, Indian pacers have the best average among all Test playing nations (23.37) and the second-best strike rate (47) in Test match cricket.

On Saturday, the 'Bazzball' era got a rude reminder of that.