Former India head coach Ravi Shastri lavished praise on England speedster Jofra Archer for his memorable Test comeback in the Lord's Test against India. Archer made his Test comeback after a long gap of four years. He played the last Test match in February 2021 in Ahmedabad.
The 30-year-old speedster was named in England's squad for the second Test but was unable to make a cut in the playing XI as Ben Stokes-led side featured the same playing XI. Now, as he was named in the playing XI for the second Test, in his first over, Archer notched up his pace, made early inroads and bowled a 93.3 mph delivery on the fourth delivery, the "quickest ball of the series".
ALSO READ: 'Two guys changed the whole scenario...': Yograj Singh blasts India's fielding standards after KL Rahul dropped catch during Lord's Test
"When you have genuine pace coming to the fore, it's magnificent. I was outside and watching Archer mark his run-up, and the anticipation was unbelievable. When he got that wicket, all hell broke loose. The way he celebrated it, you could tell it meant so much to him. That's what crowds come to see: the ups and downs," Shastri said on Sky Sports.
India's young sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal became the first victim of Archer's breathtaking pace. He gave away a healthy outside edge to Harry Brook at the second slip to return cheaply on 13(8). According to former England pace stalwart Stuart Broad, Archer would have pictured similarly scalping Jaiswal's wicket.
"When you have had a lot of time out of the Test scene, you think about your arrival back, and Archer would have dreamt about bowling to a left-hander [Yashasvi Jaiswal] in his first over. He averages just shy of 24 to left-handers, nipping the ball away and bringing the outside edge into play. His wicket was how he would have pictured it," Broad said on Sky Sports.
Coming back to the third Test, Jasprit Bumrah's fifer helped India to bowl out England for 387 runs despite Joe Root's 37th century on the second day of the Lord's Test. After Bumrah (5 for 74) eclipsed Kapil Dev's record of 12 five-wicket hauls on foreign soil. While writing this copy, India are 74/2 after Karun Nair's dismissal.