For a few minutes on Friday evening, the Arun Jaitley Stadium turned into a stage for an intriguing cricketing moment. On a corner of the ground normally used for routine net practice, a returning Jasprit Bumrah charged in to bowl at Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 17-year-younger batter who had once managed to get the better of him. The drizzle, floodlights and the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan all seemed secondary to that contest.
The moment was still about an hour away when the players initially stepped onto the field, but the entire training session appeared to be building towards it.
The covers remained in place when the Indian team arrived for its second practice session ahead of the T20I series. The dressing room was back to full strength, with Duleep Trophy champions Ishan Kishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, along with runner-up Tilak Varma, joining the squad after missing Friday's earlier practice. Also back with the team for the first time since July was Jasprit Bumrah, looking fresh and eager to return to action.
A brief spell of sunshine appeared after the drizzle stopped, allowing the ground staff to remove the covers. India began its fielding session with plenty of intensity. Newly appointed fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh took charge of the opening 30 minutes, bringing the enthusiasm of someone still settling into a new role.
The squad was divided into two groups for direct-hit drills, with players encouraging one another throughout.
"Nice, good speed, boys," Ghosh called out despite the slightly damp conditions as the players charged forward, picked up the ball and aimed their throws at the stumps. The exercise then shifted to high-catching drills.
"Angle bana le, jaise batting ho raha hai" (set your angle, like there is someone batting), he shouted from around the practice pitches while guiding players positioned near the boundary. Sooryavanshi struggled during this phase, dropping a few difficult catches as the floodlights grew brighter.
BUMRAH VS SOORYAVANSHI
Reporters had gathered in a narrow line along the boundary, keen to watch every development during the session.
Bumrah laid out his run-up alongside the other pace options — Arshdeep Singh, a fully fit Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube and Yash Thakur, who had been brought in as cover for the injured Harshit Rana.
Watching Bumrah return after a lengthy rehabilitation was like seeing a carefully rebuilt machine switched on again for the first time. The components were familiar, but there was still the question of whether everything would function as before. Bumrah bowled for a long spell and showed no signs of discomfort during 45 minutes of intense work.
When Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sanju Samson walked out to face the pacers in one of the two nets, reporters immediately realised the significance of the moment. This was the first time Bumrah had bowled to Sooryavanshi in the India nets.
The pair had previously faced each other in the IPL, most notably when the then 15-year-old Sooryavanshi had smashed one of cricket's most feared bowlers for a six, an innings that remained memorable for everyone who saw it.
But on Friday at the Kotla, Bumrah was determined not to make things easy for India's top-order batters.
1. YORKER
All eyes and binoculars turned towards the nets as Bumrah began his approach. His opening delivery was a yorker directed at Sooryavanshi's feet, but it slipped down the leg side without making contact. The quiet start did not last.
Arshdeep, Thakur, Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy each bowled to Sooryavanshi between Bumrah's deliveries. The teenager looked reasonably comfortable against them, gradually finding his rhythm and beginning to free his arms. However, he struggled to build any sustained momentum because Bumrah continued to attack.
2. GOOD-LENGTH RIPPER
The second ball from Bumrah was a sharp length delivery that moved away from Sooryavanshi and completely beat the young batter, who had no answer to it.
3. ANOTHER YORKER
The third delivery was another toe-crushing yorker aimed at the blockhole. This time, Sooryavanshi managed to bring his bat down quickly enough to defend it. By then, Bumrah was fully into his rhythm and shifted his focus to Samson, attacking him with more yorkers and short deliveries directed towards the wicketkeeper-batter's hip.
4. THE CELEBRAPPEAL
Then came the moment that had everyone watching closely. Bumrah charged in, hit the ideal length once again and induced an edge off Sooryavanshi's bat that would have been an easy catch for a wicketkeeper.
Bumrah immediately knew what had happened and responded with something that looked halfway between an appeal and a celebration — a celebrappeal.
Sooryavanshi did manage one clean response, driving a fuller Bumrah delivery away, but that was an exception on a day when the experienced pacer appeared determined to give his young teammate a glimpse of the pressure he has imposed on opponents for years.
Former West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop had previously explained to IndiaToday.in how Bumrah's reputation has become a weapon in itself.
"And then, of course, there's reputation. When I bowled with Curtly Ambrose, you'd see Matthew Hayden play him with respect, and then come after me. That's the kind of respect Bumrah has earned."
That respect was evident at the Kotla on Friday. None of India's top-order batters, including Sooryavanshi and Ishan Kishan, appeared willing to attack Bumrah recklessly.
There was still plenty of humour during the session. Bumrah smiled after completing his follow-through, while Samson laughed at the pacer's intensity. After finishing his time against the quicks, Samson moved across to the spin nets positioned to the left of the central strip.
Bumrah was returning after the knee injury that had forced him to miss an ODI in England in July and the subsequent Test series in Sri Lanka. On his first day back, he gave head coach Gautam Gambhir and the rest of the team every indication that he was fit and ready.
The practice session lasted more than three hours. Most of India's top-order batters spent significant time in the nets, while the pace bowlers, spinners and net bowlers, led by the ever-enthusiastic Navdeep Saini, were visibly tiring by the end in the heavy evening humidity.
Saini bowled with the urgency of someone fighting for a return to the national team. Towards the end of Ishan Kishan's batting session, one of his bouncers caught Kishan high as he attempted to duck, leaving the batter wincing and prompting the physios to examine his back.
Abhishek Sharma, as usual, was the last batter to pad up and the last to leave. Even at 10 pm, Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak were putting him through an intense short-ball drill, feeding deliveries from just short of a length.
A lot unfolded during the demanding training session, but the image most likely to stay with everyone was Bumrah's celebrappeal after edging Sooryavanshi. For once, the young batter had shown genuine respect for the master. He may get an opportunity to repay the favour when the IPL returns.
