Behind those sunglasses, Brendon McCullum gave little, but it wasn’t hard to read his facial expressions after Alex Lee was run out after a terrible mix-up with Joe Root.
Within minutes, it had gone from ‘bazzball’ to ‘bust ball’ for England as 107 for no loss were reduced to 109 for 3.
Irrespective of the outcome of this Test match, Indian cricket has found real captaincy material in Jasprit Bumrah, who could lead the ‘Men in Whites’ for a long time to come if the cricketing establishment believes in him.
Indian cricket’s new ‘smiling killer’ Bumrah has the potential to become ‘Captain Marvel’ if given full time responsibility.
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It will be a learning curve for Bumrah and being a fast bowler, there will be injury breaks as well as workload management gaps.
But as and when Indian cricket gears up for the next leadership change, the Ahmedabad slinger will be more deserving than KL Rahul, who is considered to be Rohit Sharma’s natural successor.
Virat Kohli was a different kind of captain, where passion and instinct were a prime link and this is how he harnessed his energy.
In Rohit Sharma’s case, you can look at him in many ways and try to count his body language, but he comes from the Mumbai Indians School of Captaincy, which is always above insanity, even if he has such an effect. Don’t give
Rahul has given no indication that he is a shrewd captain or can turn the tide in the event of a pressure-cooker. The series away from South Africa was an excellent indicator where he captained in the second game.
In Bumrah’s case, in the four days he has led the team, he has shown the colors of Mahendra Singh Dhoni – the gentle smile that never refuses to leave his face, the proportionate aggression and poker face without your face. Maintained even when Oppo is in ‘Beast Mode’.
Be it Jonny Bairstow’s attack on Sunday or a century partnership between the openers on Monday, Bumrah was able to maintain the cool quotient.
And without much ado, Bumrah has this uncanny ability to make a difference in the proceedings without making a ruckus about his presence.
His intimidating presence is felt after inflicting harm. Stuart Broad felt it the second day and so did England’s top three.
He knows the art of making amends after a mistake. Ask Liz and Ollie Pope, they will tell you how they wished Bumrah never bowled a no-ball and then was desperate to compensate. And he did it in style.
On the third day, no one expected him to do Jonty Rhodes, but he was out on a ball after a sitter was dropped, to fully dive from his mid-off position and catch Ben Stokes.
On the fourth day, when the shoulders were about to hang, he took charge. By then the umpires had converted a Duke’s ball for the fifteenth time and suddenly it deviated a little more.
For the number nerds, the new ball used at the start of the innings was deviating 0.4 degrees from the surface and when the ball was replaced, the Indian captain was able to gain a full one degree of speed.
The result was Zak Crowley failing to read the line and inward movement and Olly Pope failing to read the line and outward movement.
The key to the leadership is balance and this was evident in the DRS taken by his deputy Rishabh Pant in his absence as well, after Kohli rapped Joe Root on the pads by Shami.
TV replays showed the ball was going over the stumps.
In the next over, Shami once again caught Root on the pads, this time under the knee-roll, and looked imminent in a split second.
Everyone wanted to go up but Bumrah came up from his mid-on position and was heard saying that it was going down the leg side.
These are signs of good things to come.
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