After completing the 37th century of Indvseng Joe Root, Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets while bowling brilliantly, taking England’s score to seven wickets till lunch on the second day of the second Test on Friday.
But in the second hour of the game, Jamie Smith (51 not out) and Bridan Cars (33 runs) faced the balls of the Indian fast bowlers and disappointed India by an unwavering partnership of 82 runs for the eighth wicket. Dux ‘The ball once again became a topic of discussion as the Indian team had to change the red ball twice in this session.
How fucky are these dukes balls man, within a session these balls are chipped and beaten out of shape alredy. Even the sg balls used in India are better than these.
England might have better stands and overall infra than us, but really fucky pitches and balls tbh. pic.twitter.com/QDFKEPOPP
– Coach.nachiketh, CSCS (@NachikeThShetty) July 11, 2025
England started the day by 251 runs for four wickets. But in front of Bumrah’s brilliant bowling, England lost the wickets of captain Ben Stokes (44), Root (104) and Chris Woakes (0) in the first hour. Smith also got a life of life when KL Rahul gave up the catch of this wicketkeeper batsman in the form off Mohammad Siraj.
Stokes was the first batsman to be dismissed during the day. Stokes was bowled on the next ball after putting a square cut on Bumrah. This Indian fast bowler’s ’round the wicket’ hit the beautiful ball off stump and the Stokes could not do anything other than shaking his head.
Root, who completed his record eighth Test century at Lord’s on the very first ball of the day, could not pursue his innings and became the second victim of Bumrah whose ball was uprooted by his middle stump. This is the 11th time when Bumrah has dismissed England’s best batsman in Tests.
On the next ball, Vox was caught out behind the wicket. It was surprising that Shubman Gill wanted to change the second new Dux ball of about 10 over. The officers had accepted Gill’s request, but the Indian players were not happy with the changed ball. This led to a sharp debate between Gill and Umpires.
How fucky are these dukes balls man, within a session these balls are chipped and beaten out of shape alredy. Even the sg balls used in India are better than these.
England might have better stands and overall infra than us, but really fucky pitches and balls tbh. pic.twitter.com/QDFKEPOPP
– Coach.nachiketh, CSCS (@NachikeThShetty) July 11, 2025
England scored 307 runs for seven wickets in the initial hour. Shortly thereafter, the ball was changed for the second time in the session, which intensified the debate on the balls used in England. When the captain had to bowl his bowlers with the new ball, he started getting a swing of 1.3 instead of 2.3. Which led to a partnership between Smith and Cars.
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