England, India Set for Fiery Series Opener Amid Bumrah Dilemma

If there was one lasting image from India's last Test series against England, it was probably Jasprit Bumrah detonating Ollie Pope's stumps in Visakhapatnam - a feet-seeking yorker so ridiculously sweet that the Food Standards Agency could have marked it red on their traffic-light system.

A year and a half after England's 4-1 humiliation in India on Friday, Bumrah remains the standout of the two assaults heading into the first of five blockbuster Tests, which begin at Headingley on Friday.  Even stating this sells him short.  Bumrah's 19.4 average is the lowest among the 86 bowlers to reach 200 Test wickets.  Only Kagiso Rabada. With a strike rate of 38.9 versus Bumrah's 42, he takes wickets more frequently.

The figures only improved during Bumrah's most recent tour with a red ball, with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia last winter yielding 32 wickets at 13 runs each - one for every 28 deliveries he bowled.  His is still one of the most impressive motions in the sport, a gradual trot of a run-up followed by a slingshot explosion that asks the batter an incredible number of split-second questions.  "It's awkward to face," Ben Stokes said on Thursday.  "Especially when you first go in, for those first couple of balls." 

If there is anything England can take away from the BGT series, it is that India still lost 3–1.  And, while no one wants to see it, Bumrah broke down midway into its Sydney finale when the strain of carrying an attack became too much.  According to an interview he gave with Dinesh Karthik for Sky Sports, the goal is to play three of the five Test matches this summer. 

So cricket fans expecting to see Bumrah in person over the next six weeks will be crossing their fingers that they have the lucky Wonka ticket.  Shubman Gill, a rookie captain leading a reboot after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, will have to get more out of his supporting cast.  India is looking for their first series victory in England since 2007 and their second in a five-Test series away from home. 

As the 20th anniversary of the 2005 Ashes approaches, thoughts turn to the similarly brilliant Glenn McGrath and how England capitalized on the Tests he missed for their two victories.  Stokes and his players will not be satisfied with simply taking the lead and leaving it at that.  The England captain admitted that his team needed to be "smarter" than in the past, but draws were still not his thing. 

Neither is mentioning the Ashes, which can only be a good sign.  When India arrived in 2021, England's head coach, Chris Silverwood, spoke of the series "galvanising" his players for the winter tour to Australia, and a tired, confused side fell 2-1 behind after four Tests.  Had India stayed in the country that summer, rather than postponing the fifth Test for a year owing to Covid and then losing at Edgbaston, they may have finished the job. 

As Mark Ramprakash has pointed out, England now has a more established top six, despite Jacob Bethell nipping at their heels.  And now that Kohli has retired, Joe Root is the best batsman on both sides.  Three hundred seventy-three runs are separating the fourth-placed Yorkshireman (13,006) and second in the all-time Test rankings, with only Sachin Tendulkar's 15,921 coming higher.  Bumrah has nine wickets against Root, the hitter he has dismissed the most and will look to stymie this March. 

With the newly minted Anderson-Tendulkar trophy on the line and the start of the next World Test Championship, England's bowling is possibly the most significant worry since the former's retirement.  Chris Woakes, who has 36 wickets at 20.9 since his return in 2023 and has yet to lose a Test under Stokes, leads a grunty but raw assault.  Among the head-to-heads that could be pivotal is Rishabh Pant's inevitable attempt to dethrone Shoaib Bashir. 

However, Karun Nair, who annihilated England's spinners in a spectacular unbroken 303 in Chennai nine years ago, may potentially take on this role.  The 33-year-old never recovered from that match but has fought his way back through Kohli's departure and some outstanding domestic performances, including two periods at Northamptonshire.  One of the numerous storylines in this series is about endurance. 

The weather at Headingley is expected to be scorching, as has been Nair's recent form, making for a difficult toss.  The old saying in these parts is to look up, not down - i.e. bat under clear skies, bowl under cloud cover - but there will undoubtedly be a temptation to go the opposite way.  The ground has recently improved as the match continued, with the side that bowled first winning the last six Tests here. 

For England, another storyline will unravel 90 miles north when Jofra Archer returns to first-class cricket for Sussex at Durham, his first red-ball appearance since 2021, with an eye on playing the second Test in Birmingham.  Archer is arguably the closest thing England has to Bumrah in terms of unique characteristics. However, there is only one.