It was a day of history in Jamaica as Jasprit Bumrah became the third Indian to claim a hat-trick in Test cricket as he ripped through the West Indies batting order on the second day of the second Test match in Jamaica.
India posted 416 runs on the back of a maiden century by Hanuma Vihari and was right on top when West Indies started batting. Jasprit Bumrah started the carnage all by himself when he slanted a ball from over the wicket across John Campbell who could only nick it behind to Rishabh Pant.
After a brief pause, Bumrah, who was relentless with his line and length, kept hammering away at a length and finally drew the edge of Dwayne Bravo who could only nick it to Darren Bravo. Out walked Brooks and Bumrah greeted him with a booming inswing and trapped him right in front of the stumps. There was no doubt in the minds of the umpire Paul Reifel who raised his finger in a hurry.
DRS comes to assist Bumrah
The stage was now set for something special as Roston Chase walked out and Kohli stationed three slips. Bumrah ran up and hurled a full inswinger. Chase toppled over as he tried to put bat to ball but his pads were smashed even before he could get his bat down. The Indians appealed but umpire Paul Reifel declared not out.
Virat Kohli, who was pumping all over the place, asked Bumrah something and then immediately sent him upstairs. The ball was full and the angle was sharp, but, well, when ball tracking was in play, the ball was shown to be hitting leg stump. The decision overturned and Jasprit Bumrah became only the third Indian bowler to claim a hat-trick in Test cricket.
He thus joined the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan among Indians with Test hat-tricks. He then made it back to back five-wicket hauls when Kraigg Brathwaite edged a full delivery behind to Rishabh Pant and then ended the day with the wicket of West Indies captain Jason Holder. At the end of Day 2, Bumrah's figures read 9.1-3-16-6. Ian Bishop remarked on Twitter: "Bumrah is once in a lifetime talent."
West Indies were 87 for 7 when stumps were drawn to mark the end of the day and have fallen behind in the game quite substantially. The Indian bowlers will be back on Day 3 to finish off the job and the focus will then be back on captain Virat Kohli and what he decides to do with the game.
