England’s Spin Dominance Puts India on Back Foot: 4th Test Day 2
In the ongoing fourth Test match between England and India, spinner Shoaib Bashir showcased his prowess, clinching four crucial wickets to put England in a commanding position.
With just three wickets remaining in the first innings, India is behind by 134 runs.
England 353 (Root 122*, Robinson 58, Jadeja 4-67) leads India 219 for 7 (Jaiswal 73, Bashir 4-84) by 134 runs.
With just three more wickets needed to establish a vital first-innings lead on a deteriorating pitch in Ranchi, England concluded the second day of the fourth Test with a 134-run lead, thanks to a four-wicket haul from Shoaib Bashir that forced India into the danger zone.
After making his debut in Visakhapatnam, Bashir, a 20-year-old off-spinner, was playing in just his second Test match. He amassed 4 for 84 in a 31-over stretch that started before lunch and concluded after tea. It broke only to switch ends in the evening’s waning light in order to get one more over. Among the wickets he claimed was that of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose half-century stood as India’s sole score above forty. Kuldeep Yadav was on 17 at the end, and Dhruv Jurel was undefeated on 30.
In India’s first innings, James Anderson caught Rohit Sharma behind for just two runs in the third over. Jaiswal settled in as one might expect from a batsman who had hit double hundreds in his previous two Tests, with the surface initially behaving better than its appearance said it should before remaining steadily low throughout the day.
Shubman and Jaiswal Gill had lunch and they were really starting to click. In one Anderson over, Gill raised the partnership to 50 with a couple of fours, and then Jaiswal lifted Bashir over mid-on for six. When Jaiswal, then forty, edged a wide delivery from Ollie Robinson low to a diving Ben Foakes, who felt he’d taken the catch, England thought they had broken their flow, but the third umpire decided it was grounded.
After missing the third Test, Bashir rejoined the England team and quadrupled his wicket total, his most recent efforts positioning England to tie the series 2-2 with three days to go. Bashir replaced Rehan Ahmed in the starting lineup.
After an 82-run partnership with Jaiswal, he had Gill leg before wicket. With one that spun sharply to beat the inside edge, India recovered from 4 for 1 to 86 for 2. Subsequently, he struck Rajat Patidar on the pad with a blow that would have continued to ping leg but slipped on from outside off stump.
After eluding England‘s LBW review the previous delivery, Ravindra Jadeja hit back-to-back sixes over the leg side off Tom Hartley. However, he was dismissed for Bashir’s third wicket, having refused to give up a top-spinner that hooped into Ollie Pope’s hands at short leg.
However, the most significant wicket came from Bashir’s fourth one. Following Rohit’s early departure, Jaiswal was the rock. He scored 73 off 116 balls, including eight fours and a six, moved down the wicket, and clobbered Bashir over long-on. However, India were clearly in trouble when he returned to a length ball that stayed low and slammed into middle stump.
With his performance, Bashir announced the arrival of a player whose road had not been easy. Snatched out of relative obscurity with a first-class average of 67 ahead of the trip, he missed the opening Test after returning home from England’s pre-series training camp in the United Arab Emirates while a visa issue was resolved. All of that felt so far behind him on Saturday.
Left-handed The third member of England’s fledgling spin brigade, Tom Hartley, chipped in with the wickets of R Aswhin, who was leg before wicket off a ball that stayed low and struck the batter just above the boot, and Sarfaraz Khan, who went through 53 balls for 14 before he was beautifully taken by a diving Root at slip. Despite the controversy surrounding the previous match, Ashwin made a fruitless attempt to challenge the third umpire’s decision, which favoured England.
After adding 51 in the morning session, England lost their final three wickets for six runs in just 17 deliveries. Robinson ended the match quickly, raising his first Test fifty following an overnight 31 with five boundaries. He attempted to reverse-sweep Jadeja when he fell for fifty-eight, but the ball brushed his glove through to the wicketkeeper. Three balls later, Patidar caught a stray leading edge made by Bashir, and Jadeja secured his fourth wicket by leg before wicketing Anderson, who was sweeping the ball.
After returning on 106 and sharing century stands with Ben Foakes to save England from 112 for 5 on the first day, and Robinson, who was instrumental in pushing England’s total above 300, Root stayed undefeated on 122.
