- June 23, 2025
When has the red cherry in hand, you know things are about to get spicy. And on Day 2 of the first Test at Leeds, he wasn’t just bowling overs—he was weaving pure magic. The most high-profile casualty of his wizardry? Joe Root. Yep, the man with 13,000+ Test runs was lured into chasing a ball he had no business flirting with. Cleaned up. Gone. But how does a batter as ice-cool and seasoned as Root fall for something so out of character? Let’s peel back the layers and see how Bumrah turned the brain over technique.
The Bumrah Effect: Pressure by Presence
Jasprit Bumrah is not just another fast bowler. He steps into a spell with not just pace, but intent. The spell he bowled, on Day 2, as his third, was like a well-planned robbery. Root had looked good, and Bumrah coming back completely changed the game. Saba Karim hit the nail on the head when he commented, “He writes the script, directs it, and acts at the same time”.
By the time Bumrah returned to bowl his third spell, he knew what he wanted: Joe Root’s wicket. He didn’t intend to wait any longer. The delivery that claimed Root’s wicket wasn’t a magical outswinger – it was composed, simple, and diabolical. It was wide outside off-stump, the kind of ball you imagine Root should shoulder arms to. But Bumrah’s presence had already done the work. Root went after it. Edged. Gone.
Why? Because sometimes the bowler’s name plays on your mind before the ball even leaves his hand.
Root’s Rare Misjudgment
Joe Root doesn’t do that. That’s why this dismissal is so intriguing. He’s not an irresponsible middle-order batter: he’s one of the best technical players of our generation.
The ball was not swinging sharply. There was no seam movement. It simply sat there. Wide. Enticing. But Bumrah had been consistently hitting good areas, which had kept Root occupied. Asking for a concentrated effort. Perhaps Root felt it would nip back. Maybe there was scoreboard pressure. Or maybe, just maybe, it was Bumrah’s rhythm and intent that made him believe this was the moment to take control.
But Bumrah thrives on those moments. The second you attempt to take control, he comes back at you. And that was enough.
The Missed Fourth Wicket and Its Possible Fallout
Bumrah had already had Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett in the bag before he had set up Root. And then there was the bouncer that really should’ve got Harry Brook – but didn’t. Why? A no-ball. As Saba Karim said, “He couldn’t do just the last line properly.” That short ball was brilliant intimidation – Brook fended it, Siraj caught it – and it was worthless.
Brook is still at the crease, untouched, with a red-hot Ollie Pope—already a centurion—standing tall at the other end. Bumrah deserved a fourth, maybe even a fifth scalp in that fiery spell. But cricket has its quirks—sometimes, a single no-ball or a dropped catch can flip the script. In this game, it’s not always the big moments that shape the outcome; it’s the tiny missteps that end up echoing the loudest.
But what Bumrah did in his short period was dent the confidence of the English top-order and create doubt in the minds of the very best players. And that might be a greater currency than runs.
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