It wasn't hard to read Brendon McCullum's expression behind those sunglasses. That facial expression changed when Alex Lees ran out of energy after mixing with Joe Root. Within minutes, England went from having 107 runs with no losses to having 109 runs with three losses.
No matter how this Test match turns out, Jasprit Bumrah is a real captain who can lead the "Men in Whites" for a long time if the cricket establishment trusts him. Bumrah is the new "Smiling Assassin" of Indian cricket. If given full-time responsibility, he could become a "Captain Marvel."
Bumrah will have to learn a lot quickly, and since he is a fast bowler, there will be times when he needs to take a break because he is hurt or because he needs to manage his workload.
But when the time comes for the following change in leadership in Indian cricket, the spinner from Ahmedabad will be a much better choice than KL Rahul. The latter is seen as Rohit Sharma's natural successor in all formats.
In the four days that Bumrah has been leading the team, he has shown some similarities to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He has a soft smile that never leaves his face, he is aggressive without being rude, and he keeps a poker face even when the other team is in "Beast Mode."
Bumrah leads the field
Bumrah seemed to stay calm, even when Jonny Bairstow attacked on Sunday or the openers scored a hundred together on Monday. And without much fuss, Bumrah has this uncanny ability to change the way things are going without making a big deal about it.
After he does the damage, his presence is still scary. On Day 2, Stuart Broad and England's top three also felt it. He knows how to make up for his mistakes. According to TimesofIndia, Lees and Ollie Pope will say that they wish Bumrah hadn't thrown a no-ball and then tried so hard to make up for it, and he did it in style.
On Day 3, no one thought he would pull a Jonty Rhodes, but he did come out from mid-off and dive full-stretch to catch Ben Stokes, just one ball after dropping a simple catch.
On the fourth day, when his shoulders were tired, he took charge. By then, the umpires had already changed a Dukes' ball dozens of times, and suddenly, it started going in a different direction.
His deputy Rishabh Pant took the DRSs in his absence, which was encouraged by Kohli after Shami struck Root in the pads. This demonstrated that balance is essential to effective leadership, which was also apparent in the DRSs taken by Pant in his absence.
In the following over, Shami once again rapped Root on the pads, but this time she did so underneath the knee-roll, and in that brief second, she looked adjacent.
Bumrah came up from his mid-on position and was heard shouting that it was coming down leg-side. Everyone else wanted to go up, but Bumrah stopped them. These are indications that favourable outcomes are on the horizon.
