Image Credit- BCCI
With five wickets from R Ashwin and four from Kuldeep
Yadav, India set themselves up for victory in the third Test and the series.
It was the vastly experienced Ashwin who lit up India’s efforts to seize some
control on a day when two youngsters, playing their second Tests, confirmed
their arrival by exerting considerable influence on the match. Kuldeep came in
for an economical 4 for 22 from his 15 overs to help contain England’s
advantage to 191.
As England fell to 65 for 3, Ashwin took two wickets in as many balls after
first-innings centurion Joe Root. Later in the day, he completed his 35th Test
five-for, bowling England out for 145 in their second innings and giving
India’s openers a nibble at the deficit over the final 20 minutes or so before
the close.
It happened after 23-year-old wicketkeeper-battler
Dhruv Jurel scored his first-ever fifty runs in a Test match. He was only 10
runs short of a century and led India to 307 all out, reducing the deficit in
the first innings to 46 after they had begun the day 134 runs down with three
wickets in hand. After working through 32 overs, including 31 consecutive
overs, for his four wickets on the second day, England’s 20-year-old offspinner
Shoaib Bashir became the second-youngest bowler to record a five-for in men’s
Test cricket, behind Rehan Ahmed, whom he replaced for this match.
Following the tea break, England lost 5 for 25 in 21
overs as the pitch started to grip and turn more often. After Ben Duckett was
caught at short leg by Ashwin off a length ball that drifted in and hit the
inside edge, popping to Sarfaraz Khan for a straightforward catch, they were 19
for 2 in the fifth over. Ashwin trapped Ollie Pope leg before wicket with the
next ball, which didn’t turn as much as the batsman might have thought because
he was struck on the back pad in line with the leg stump. Ollie Pope was out
for a two.
After Root and Zak Crawley shared a 46-run
partnership, Ashwin struck once more, getting some spin with a full ball that
beat Root’s inside edge and tapped the pad from around the wicket. Initially
declared not out, replays suggested the ball had pitched slightly in line with
the leg and was going to smash it, raising doubts about whether the ball had
pitched outside the leg stump. Nevertheless, India reviewed.
Crawley reached his thirteenth Test fifty, his third of the series, and took up
another 45-run stand with Jonny Bairstow. With England 106 for 3, Jurel had a
stumping opportunity off Bairstow at 23 but Kuldeep started to find noticeable
turn, which was enough to remove Crawley, who was bowled on middle stump for
60.
Stokes, who had questioned that aspect of the DRS
previously in this series, couldn’t help but smile wryly when he survived an
LBW appeal off Ravindra Jadeja on the umpire’s call.
On a pitch that was still acting erratically, Jadeja and Kuldeep were getting
the ball to turn more frequently in the second session. Kuldeep then hit Stokes
with a beautiful delivery that stayed low, slid onto the back pad, between the
batter’s legs, and into the stumps.
Ben Foakes, who had earlier overturned an LBW call off
the same bowler, missed the carrom ball and chipped straight back, giving
Ashwin his fourth wicket by a return catch. Three balls later, he removed James
Anderson for a pair when Jurel made a superb one-handed catch behind the
stumps.
Earlier, in a steady opening hour, Jurel and Kuldeep
put on a 76-run partnership for the eighth wicket, taking advantage of the best
batting conditions of the day.
After Anderson dismissed Kuldeep for 28 runs off 131 balls, Jurel picked up the
pace. When he returned to the pitch on 22, Jurel already had a maximum to his
credit. He slammed Bashir into the ground for six and four straight deliveries.
He hit two more sixes from Bashir and Hartley before being knocked out as the
last man, dismissed by a superb delivery from Hartley that slanted in, spun
past his defence, and crashed into middle and off stump to cap off a very
mature effort.