Making A Miracle: How Team India Rewrote The Script In The First Test

His team had just been bowled out for 150 on Day 1 of the first Test of the 2025 Border-Gavaskar Trophy but, in the dressing room, skipper Jasprit Bumrah was calmness personified.

- Ashish Magotra

He took his bowling group—Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar—aside to have a quick word.

He didn't ask them for blood and guts. He didn't ask them to be aggressive. He didn't ask them to take a bullet for the country. Instead, he gave them a very simple message.

"The message was that sometimes when you are bowled out for a lower score, you can be a little too desperate and you can go wicket-hunting," said Bumrah on Monday after India had sealed a massive 295-run victory. "So when you try too much over here, it doesn't really help, and the run rate goes high. Be nice and disciplined and we'll make run-making as difficult as we can. That is what has worked in the past over here as well. And when we are able to do that, it gives us a lot of success."

This is cricketing logic of the highest order, but players often don't get it in the heat of the moment. To do the simple things right in a high-pressure situation is a difficult thing.

Everyone wants to play the hero, and this hunger often leads down the wrong path. However, Bumrah didn't give his young attack too much time to dwell on the problem—he took the lead himself with a spell for the ages.

Dishing up a storm

Rana, 22, who was making his Test debut, had cried in the team huddle during his speech after receiving his India cap, but when it was his turn to bowl, he was full of steely resolve.