IND vs ENG 3rd Test: Upbeat Bumrah goes through the paces at Lord's

London: Two days ahead of the third Test, there was little buzz at Lord’s. In spite of the excitement this series has generated, it was a regular day’s work for staff and officials at the headquarters of England cricket.While England didn’t turn up on Tuesday, the Indian team, which has decided to have optional training sessions on both days leading up to the Test, saw half of its members turning up for practice. Most of the players from the Edgbaston win, though, chose to take the day off.

Instead, all eyes were on Jasprit Bumrah, who had a thorough session. After an hour of bowling, he had an extensive stint with the bat in the nets. It’s been a fortnight since Bumrah had any kind of game time because of the workload management programme which has been customised to his body’s endurance levels.

Picking his matches gives Bumrah the best opportunity to take the field in prime shape.

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Bumrah comes across as an intense person on the field. He puts a lot of thought into each and everything he does. During his bowling spell in the nets on Tuesday, one could see a subtle change in his delivery stride. The run-up looked a bit different. It was not his usual walkhop-jump. There was a little bit more running involved. He started by walking a few steps but before he got into the long strides near the bowling crease, he was jogging a few paces into the run-up.

The loading up into the delivery stride appeared a lot smoother than his characteristic, abrupt approach.It could well be something Bumrah is working on to ease the load on his body. There was very little to go by in his outing at Headingley in the first Test. He wasn’t quite bowling at full tilt. It was more about getting his rhythm back. As he worked away on his bowling on one side of the practice area, head coach Gautam Gambhir and other support staff oversaw the other players.Bumrah kept things light and appeared upbeat, casually knocking over Karun Nair’s stumps with a gentle in-swinger with a semi-new ball. Prasidh Krishna, the one who is expected to make way for Bumrah, was sharing notes with the senior pro while he went through a light session. Bumrah even took time out for the odd banter with teammates.A lot has happened since the last day of the Headingley Test, when Bumrah uncharacteristically went wicketless as England chased down a 371-run target rather easily. He must be feeling a lot more at ease going into the third Test.While the spotlight is bound to follow him, Bumrah will know there are two other pacers in Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep who will be marking their run-ups with supreme confidence alongside him. Siraj and Akash Deep, after all, ran through the England batting on a flat pitch in the last Test.Bumrah’s workload suffered a sharp spike on India’s last tour of Australia because he had to singlehandedly bear the burden of holding up the pace attack.

It resulted in him suffering another back injury and missing the Champions Trophy. At Lord’s, he can expect a cushion from the other end after a long time.

Curiosity around ‘lively’ pitch

India captain Shubman Gill had claimed that England would not prefer to play on flat batting tracks after the Edgbaston defeat. England counterpart Ben Stokes too suggested that the pitch for the second Test behaved more like the ones in the subcontinent. t has already led to speculation that England have asked for more responsive pitches, the ones more amenable to their pacers.The pitch that is being prepared had significant grass covering on Tuesday morning but by afternoon, it looked more brownish, with the grass having being trimmed.India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said, “If England want to give us a slightly more challenging wicket, it is fair. The scores at Lord’s have been comparatively low.”