If the glare of Bazball wasn’t enough, Team India also had to deal with a body blow late on Friday evening with Ravichandran Ashwin’s withdrawal from the match. But their counterpunch turned out to be even better.
Milestone man Ashwin’s sudden unavailability in the ongoing Test owing to a family emergency was a major setback as India went into Day III with a bowler short. But this Indian bowling attack is not one to bow before challenges.
Not letting the team feel Ashwin’s absence, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj combined fabulously to bowl England out for 319 from their overnight total of 207/2 before Yashasvi Jaiswal’s brisk 104 (retired hurt) and Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 65 stretched India’s lead to 322 at stumps on Day III.
Siraj certainly did well with the old ball, making good use of the scrambled seam to polish off England’s lower order in his post-lunch spell (5.1-1-12-3). But that India are in the driving seat is thanks mainly to Bumrah and Kuldeep.
Joe Root and Ben Duckett couldn’t quite continue from where England had finished on Day II, owing to Bumrah and Kuldeep’s accuracy. The chinaman’s guile helped him fox Jonny Bairstow. For Root though, his over-anxiousness led to his fall as he attempted what was a needless reverse scoop to perish at slip.
Precisely, some of the England batsmen appeared totally confused with fearlessness and recklessness, including Duckett (dismissed off a poor, wide ball from Kuldeep) and captain Ben Stokes, who gifted Ravindra Jadeja his wicket.
However, to sum up, besides the morning spells of Bumrah (1/20 in 7 overs) and Kuldeep (2/35 in 12 overs), England’s inability to gauge the fine line between being bold and reckless has a lot to do with the current match situation.
