Pacer Bumrah rues saliva-ban after a hard day’s work

However, if the first day’s play was any indication of things to come, it wouldn’t be as plain sailing for the host as had initially been predicted. After a day of toil under the harsh Chennai sun, any plans that India may have had of bowling out England for a paltry score were torpedoed by the resolute English opener Dom Sibley and his ever-enterprising captain Joe Root as the pair was involved in a 200-run association for the third wicket.

Towards the fag end of the day, in the last over to be precise, India mitigated the damage somewhat when the industrious Jasprit Bumrah trapped Sibley, who was sapped of energy in the hot and humid climes after a productive day’s work, in front to bring an end to an ominous-looking partnership.

India will undoubtedly be boosted by his ‘timely’ exit and will be hoping that it will enable it to make early inroads into England’s middle and lower middle-order when action resumes on second day. Ever since losing the toss on Friday, India struggled to exert its supremacy on the proceedings with the English left-right opening combination of Rory Burns and Sibley rarely troubled by the host’s fast bowling pair of Ishant Sharma and Bumrah.

In fact, Burns, dismissed for 33, was looking good for more before he perished attempting an outrageous reverse-sweep off R Ashwin at the stroke of lunch.

As often happens, one wicket led to another, and during that brief passage of play before lunch when Bumrah removed Dan Lawrence for zero with an absolute peach, it appeared that India would break open the English’s door of resistance but Root and Sibley put paid to those hopes with a defiant stand.

At the completion of the day’s play, Bumrah, who took two of the three wickets to fall, shared his views with the media.

The ball did become soft after a while and the wicket is on the flatter side with the bounce being less. You are left with few options to shine the ball. We are trying to figure out what we can do with the limited things on hand.

In India, the ball gets scuffed up easily. So, to make the ball heavy, you have to shine one side sometimes with sweat and it doesn’t really serve the purpose. You can’t make one side heavy with sweat and it doesn’t really work that way.But these are the rules and we have to make do with what we have at the moment

Yes, it becomes difficult when the ball becomes soft and doesn’t shine really well because of the new COVID-19 rules. The fact that we are not allowed to use saliva makes it very difficult to maintain the ball.