As he did at the end of day four when Virat Kohli handed him the ball for a final burst and he responded with two wickets in a superb spell, Jasprit Bumrah provided the first breakthrough on day five for India in Centurion in the first Test.
Dean Elgar, who displayed all his gritty resistance on day four, was in the mood for some quick runs on the final day. He started off very well, making the most of the pace on the ball and the quick outfield to put India under some early pressure. He had a life when Mohammed Shami missed a return catch but otherwise was scoring at a quick rate. It was, once again, Bumrah who produced a special delivery to dismiss the South African captain on 77. From around the wicket, Bumrah set up Elgar for being wary of the outside edge and then beat him on the inside edge for a plumb LBW.
Also read: Some good old Bumrah magic
Here’s what former Zimbabwe cricketer and prominent commentator Mpumelelo Mbangwa had to say on air about that phase of play and appreciating Bumrah in general:
Tell you what, Jasprit Bumrah is amazing. And I don’t know if Indian fans actually appreciate him rather than expect. When someone is pretty good, what tends to happen when they do it over and over, is that there is this great deal of expectation. Not so much the appreciation... you know, may be after a guy is done, and there is a long time for Bumrah, many then appreciate what the guy could do and what he was doing. But it just seems so normal that he will be in the attack when something must happen, and he will make it happen.
And I’ll tell you, what Dean Elgar tries to identify when facing up to all the bowlers, is the threat they possess. But facing Bumrah, all batters have so many threats that he presents to them. When he came round the wicket, Elgar would have felt that the most difficult threat was to ensure he didn’t edge one as it’s coming towards the offstump. What he probably didn’t quite factor was the fact that Bumrah could get it to duck back in and at the stumps and he misses it completely.
So, so tough because he varies that length. From good length, to slightly short as needed. That’s without talking about the yorker that he has that we saw last night. He’s a wonderful bowler, and he takes skills you’d watch a bowler use in one format, and aptly puts them in place in another. And at times when the game might seem in balance, and so forth. He really is a superstar.
— via Star Sports commentary