When Ravichandran Ashwin came up with another splendid half century knock, it did not appear if there was any demon in the pitch for well over three hours on Saturday afternoon, when, actually, the pitch was supposed to have undergone a drastic change at the top, set to turn square and play all tricks. India’s frontline spinner did not have particularly profitable outing in the first two days when England used the batting conditions to a post an imposing total, but with a bat in hand he looked a batsman from the top drawer after cutting left arm spinner Zafar Ansari in the sixth ball he faced after the former had captured the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane.
And after Ashwin holed out off spinner Moeen Ali to Ansari at deep mid wicket, a dismissal that brought an end to a gallant effort by the Indians to get closer to England’s first innings total of 537, the visiting team’s opening pair led by skipper Alastair Cook and tyro Haseeb Hameed, forged a confident partnership by using the small lead of 49 runs as the launch pad.
With left hand spinner Ravindra Jadeje unable to tease and taunt the left and right opening combination, skipper Virat Kohli turned to his seamers Mohammad Shammi and Umesh Yadav to choke the supply of runs for about half an hour by keeping a defensive field. The question now after 12 sessions of play has been completed is whether the nature of the surface would change dramatically on the last day ?
If at all, any among the three Indian spinners could have hoped for encouragement from the pitch, it had to be the wrist spinner Amit Mishra; there were areas to be exploited just around the right hander’s one side and left hander’s off side. Jadeja saw a handful of balls fly past the close in fielders, but he was not really able to conjure up anything of the pitch. It seemed quite a desperate measure when Ashwin persuaded Kohli to review a leg before appeal against opener Hameed that was turned down by umpire Chris Gaffaney. The DRS proved that Indians were wrong in their judgment.
The Test match has entered a stage wherein it has to be deemed that England has the potential to win by bringing an end to its second innings at some point around lunch time on Sunday. It would probably look to set a target of over 300 and hope that it’s spinners in Moeen Ali, Ansari and Adil Rashid deliver. England would certainly go for the jugular by surrounding the batsmen with a leg trap and a strong close in field on the off side too. The trio bowled 85 overs in the first innings as against seamers’ 77 and so Cook will rely on reverse as well from the seamers to cause damage in the Indian ranks.
It was an eventful fourth day with India losing Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane in a manner that both would regret because their departure diminished India’s hopes of take the lead. After putting up a stout defence for 40 minutes, Rahane completely misjudged the length from Ansari and was not in any position to play a shot that he was aiming for and was bowled of his front pad. Then, Kohli, who looked to be batting with supreme confidence, went far too back to disturb the base of the leg stump with his back foot and was hit wicket. Kohli became the second Indian captain (and 20th player) to be dismissed `hit wicket’ ; the first one was Lala Amarnath way back in the 1949 series against the West Indies and the bowler to be credited with Amarnath’s wicket was John Trim.
India slipped from a stable position and it was a grind from thereon for Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha for whom occupation of the crease became important. The Bengal stumper, who took a blow on the back of his head ducking into a short ball from Chris Woakes, tried to speed up things and the outcome was a 64 run stand that ended with Saha cutting Ali into his counterpart’s hands.
Ashwin was not required to bat in six innings of the preceding seven home Test matches with India dominating against South Africa and New Zealand, but when called upon forty minutes into the first session on the fourth day with India having saved the follow-on, he appeared ready with his resources to take the India innings till tea time. And it did not appear, when he held fort for 200 minutes and afterwards when Cook and Hameed took charge, that the surface had crumbled enough to make the spinners unsafe to play. He had attempted to farm the strike and keep away tailender Shammi from strike, although the latter, slogged a six off Rashid, as a result of which Cook rung in the off spinner, Ali. Ashwin was perhaps unlucky that his shot went straight to Ansari manning the mid-wicket fence.
Cook and Hameed who has batted brilliantly to score his first half century and even off drove Jadeja for a six, were in command that helped England raise a century plus stand for the second consecutive time; the England skipper and Ben Duckett had made 105 in the second innings at Dhaka before collapsing to 164 and lose the Test against Bangladesh at Mirpur. India went wicket-less with the spinners sending down 26 of the 37 overs and England with its nose in front by 163 runs will strive to accelerate the run rate with in order to leave India an impossible chance to chase and give its bowlers a chance take the home team’s ten second innings wickets.
England (1st Innings): 537
India (1st Innings): Murali Vijay c Hameed b Rashid 126 (485m, 301b, 9 x 4s, 4 x 6s), Gautam Gambhir lbw b Broad 29 (106m, 72b, 29), Cheteshwar Pujara c Cook b Stokes 124 (298m, 206b, 17 x 4s), Virat Kohli (hit wkt) b Rashid 40 (136m, 95b, 5 x 4s), Amit Mishra c Hameed b Ansari 0 (3m,2b), Ajinkya Rahane b Ansari 13 (40m, 30b, 1 x 4), Ravichandran Ashwin c Ansari b Ali 70 (200m, 139b, 7 x 4s), Wriddhiman Saha c Jonathan Bairstow b Ali 35 (98m,82b, 2 x 4s, 1 x 6), Ravindra Jadeja c Hameed b Rashid 12 (45m, 26b, 1 x 6), Umesh Yadav c Stokes b Rashid 5 (12m,12b, 1 x 4), Mohammed Shami not out 8 (30m, 7b, 1 x 6) , Extras (b-23,lb-2,w-1) 26, Total (in 162 overs) 488
Fall of wkts: 1-68 (Gambhir), 2-277 (Pujara), 3-318 (Vijay), 4-319 (Mishra), 5-349 (Rahane), 6- 361 (Kohli), 7-425 (Saha), 8-449 (Jadeja), 9-459 (Yadav),
England bowling: Stuart Broad 29-9-78-1, Chris Woakes 31-6-57-0, Moeen Ali 31-7-85-2, Zafar Ansari 23-1-77-2, Adil Rashid 31-1-114-4, Ben Stokes 17-2-52-1. Eom
England (2nd Innings): Alastair Cook batting 46 (141m, 107b, 3 x 4s), Haseeb Hameed batting 62(141m, 116b, 5 x 4s, 1 x 6), Extras (b-4,lb-1,nb-1 ) 6 , Total (for no loss in 37 overs) 114
India bowling: Mohammed Shammi 6-1-12-0, Ravindra Jadeja 10-1-33-0, Ravichandran Ashwin 10-2-32-0, Umesh Yadav 5-1-13-0, Amit Mishra 6-0-19-0.
