Watch: Ben Stokes somehow survives Jasprit Bumrah's trademark yorker
Jasprit Bumrah bowled his signature booming yorker, which Ben Stokes was just able to keep out on Day 2 of the Chennai Test. The Indian seamer started bowling round the wicket to the English all-rounder early in the day's opening session, almost providing the hosts with the much-needed breakthrough.
Ben Stokes was just able to get his bat down in time, as he somehow survived a peach of a delivery from the Indian fast bowler.
Even the commentators were astonished on how Ben Stokes survived the lethal yorker. Jasprit Bumrah has so far looked the most threatening bowler for India, with the Chennai pitch not providing much help to the bowlers.
India picked up two wickets in the first session of Day 1 after England got off to a decent start. Bumrah trapped Dan Lawrence LBW for a duck, thus taking his first Test wicket on home soil.
After that, Dom Sibley and Joe Root showed their mettle and stitched together a 200-run partnership. Jasprit Bumrah broke that stand late in the day with his trademark yorker, as Sibley was caught plumb in front.
Jasprit Bumrah talks about how saliva ban is affecting bowlers
After the first day's play, the Indian seamer acknowledged that the Chennai wicket is flat, with the ban of saliva making it hard for the bowlers to maintain the ball.
"The ball did become soft after a while, and the wicket is on flatter side with the bounce being less. You are left with limited options (to shine ball). We are trying to figure out what we can do with the limited things on hand, at that time. It becomes difficult when the ball becomes soft and doesn't shine really well because of new COVID-19 rules; we can't use saliva, very difficult during that time to maintain the ball," said Jasprit Bumrah.
Fast bowlers often use saliva to make one side of the ball heavy and shiny, which helps it to reverse swing. However, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the ICC have banned the use of saliva on balls. As a result, we haven't seen much reverse swing on offer in the first Test.