IND VS ENG: Who will replace Jasprit Bumrah? Will Stokes bowl? Net session at Ranchi provides answers | Cricket News

A bright smile flashed on Bengal pacer Akash Deep’s face when a member of the support staff flung a new ball towards him. He immediately measured his run-up and stood tossing the ball restlessly in his palms for his turn to come. And when it came, he brled in and worked up a steady pace that once hustled Yashasvi Jaiswal and kept Rohit Sharma wary. He consently hit the hard lengths and generated more bounce and pace than his Bengal teammate Mukesh Kumar, a dimension that would be factored in when choosing one among the two to partner Mohammed Siraj in the absence of the rested Jasprit Bumrah. If Wednesday’s nets session was an audition, Akash Deep would be the runaway winner.
But India would weigh other options too. Like playing a fourth spinner, should the pitch facilitate spin bowling early in the piece. In such an eventuality, Washington Sundar could get a look-in, after three years in this format. Washington began with a few laps around the ground, before padding up and hitting the nets, where he batted as fluently as he had in his last Test outing, wherein he remained unbeaten on 96, striding out emphatically to defend and pressing back to launch his raspy cuts. His chief threat though would be Axar Patel, whose batting stocks have risen and bowling utility dipped.
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A ripple of applause peeled the crisp forenoon air when Ben Stokes suddenly made one ball leap off a good length and beat Jonny Bairstow. Encouraged, Stokes would amplify his aggression, crank up his pace a few notches and keep Bairstow entirely shut, despite his efforts to unleash attacking strokes. He would beat him a few times and also hurry him into defensive prods on a couple of instances.
After every ball, a member of the medical staff would rush Stokes’s side and ask if he felt any physical strain. In case he did, he did not show, as he regathered to bowl another ball. After a point, they stopped bothering and Stokes would bowl as intensely as he would in a Test match.

Getting Ranchi Ready 👌 👌#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/UiZnrbdWBc
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 21, 2024
The England skipper regaining his bowling fitness would not have been better timed, with his side in dire need of a seam-bowling option if they are to continue their strategy of fielding three spinners. With the possibility of Ollie Robinson featuring in the game, giving a breather to James Anderson and Mark Wood, England would enjoy the fire and experience of Stokes, who last bowled against Australia at Lord’s last year. He was then operated on his left knee after the World Cup.

The final word, though, would be of the doctor and the physios, his colleague Ollie Pope would say: “We know what Stokes is like, he’s got that competitive edge. There’s every chance he’ll bowl, but he’s not confirmed it yet.”
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Joe Root perished to his daring tool, the reverse scoop, in the last Test. The stroke incensed England’s former players, pundits and baffled spectators. He didn’t attempt that particular stroke in the nets again, but did summon the reverse variants, the sweep and the paddle sweep. Once he even shadow-practised a switch hit.
Later he essayed a vast array of orthodox cricketing strokes. The checked straight-drive stood out, as did his square-drives. So much so that it seemed not so much a case of him out-of-touch than finding outrageous ways to get out. Root was as calm and relaxed as he always is. With his arch-nemesis Jasprit Bumrah too not around, Ranchi could be where he stands up to be counted and ends his drought.

Jonny Bairstow was gritting himself out from an indifferent patch at the nets. He was literally the first man to hit the nets and the last to leave. He would devote the first half of his session to defensive shots, getting his alignment right, playing as straight as he could and resing the loose flashes outside the off-stump. Streaky in the earlier exchanges, he would grow in confidence as the session dragged on, whereupon he would lash out his expansive strokes.