Riding on Shoaib Bashir’s top-notch bowling effort (4/84), England moved into the ascendency in the fourth Test, reducing India to 219 for seven in reply to its first-innings total of 353.
If not for the unbeaten 42-run association between Dhruv Jurel (30 batting, 58b, 2x4, 1x6) and Kuldeep Yadav (17 batting, 72b, 1x4), things would have been a lot worse by the end of day two at the JSCA Stadium here on Saturday.
Bashir bowled 31 of his 32 overs in one uninterrupted spell that started just before lunch and ended three minutes shy of the scheduled close of play. On an up-and-down wicket, he was remarkably accurate, bowling stump to stump, giving the ball an almighty rip and letting the pitch do the rest.
Shubman Gill (38, 65b, 6x4) and Rajat Patidar (17, 42b, 4x4) were both out leg-before, the former on the front foot and the latter on the back. Yashasvi Jaiswal (73, 117b, 8x4, 1x6) was dismissed when a length ball kept low and the southpaw under-edged it on to his stumps.
Ravindra Jadeja was out bat-pad, the deceptive bounce getting him into a clumsy tangle wherein he was in a half-kneeling position by the time Ollie Pope completed the catch.
Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, who too bowled 18 of his 19 overs on the trot, then got into the act. Sarfaraz Khan was caught sharply by Joe Root at slip, and R. Ashwin, deceived by an arm-ball, was trapped leg-before.
It was the third umpire’s call to go in England’s favour, after Gill’s and Patidar’s, and from 86 for one, India was down to 177 for seven.
But that frenzied period was preceded by a phase where runs came easily. Rohit Sharma sought a new cherry two balls into the day to unsettle overnight batters Root and Ollie Robinson but the latter clubbed five quick boundaries to get to his maiden Test half-century (58, 96b, 9x4, 1x6).
After Root (122 n.o., 274b, 10x4) ran out of partners, Robinson returned to bowl, displaying his new-look blonde hair and deliveries in the 120s (km/h). He resembled someone who was savouring his slow weekend morning ritual, and he was treated as one.
Rohit lazily edging James Anderson to ‘keeper Ben Foakes in the third over may have kept with the languorous setting, but Jaiswal and Gill‘s 82-run partnership would soon enliven proceedings.
Gill drove beautifully, especially down the ground and there was also space for his trademark half-cut, half-punch. Jaiswal, on the other hand, scored in clusters. Early on, he straight drove Anderson and flicked the next ball to the square-leg boundary. The same set of shots were replicated against Robinson, with the flick having a more extravagant flourish.
When Bashir was bowling well, he was watchful. In the post-lunch session, Jaiswal’s lone boundary-breaching stroke was the six he hit Bashir for, against the turn and after dancing down.
Post-tea, he shifted gears, cutting Bashir behind square for two fours and then lofting the offie over cover in triumphant fashion. But it was the 20-year-old Somerset bowler who would eventually win the battle and leave England in pole position.
Scoreboard
England first Innings: Zak Crawley b Akash Deep 42 Ben Duckett c Jurel b Akash Deep 11 Ollie Pope lbw b Akash Deep 0 Joe Root not out 122 Jonny Bairstow lbw b Ashwin 38 Ben Stokes lbw b Jadeja 3 Ben Foakes c Jadeja b Mohammed Siraj 47 Tom Hartley b Mohammed Siraj 13 Ollie Robinson c Jurel b Jadeja 58 Shoaib Bashir c Patidar b Jadeja 0 James Anderson lbw b Jadeja 0 Extras: (B-5, LB-9, NB-5) 19
Total: (All out in 104.5 overs) 353
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-47, 3-57, 4-109, 5-112, 6-225, 7-245, 8-347, 9-349, 10-353
India bowling: Mohammed Siraj 18-3-78-2, Akash Deep 19-0-83-3, Ravindra Jadeja 32.5-7-67-4, Ravichandran Ashwin 22-1-83-1, Kuldeep Yadav 12-4 -22-0, Yashasvi Jaiswal 1-0-6-0.
India first innings: Yashasvi Jaiswal b Bashir 73 Rohit Sharma (c) c Foakes b Anderson 2 Shubman Gill lbw b Bashir 38 Rajat Patidar lbw b Bashir 17 Ravindra Jadeja c Pope b Bashir 12 Sarfaraz Khan c Root b Hartley 14 Dhruv Jurel batting 30 Ravichandran Ashwin lbw b Hartley 1 Kuldeep Yadav batting 17 Extras: (B-8, LB-4, NB-3) 15
Total: (For 7 wickets in 73 overs) 219
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-86, 3-112 4-130, 5-161, 6-171, 7-177.
England bowling: James Anderson 12-4-36-1, Ollie Robinson 9-0-39-0, Shoaib Bashir 32-4-84-4, Tom Hartley 19-5-47-2, Joe Root 1-0-1-0.
