No matter what the colour of the ball, England’s woes against India’s spinners just don’t seem to end.
There was no puff of dust when the ball landed on the pitch, unlike on the opening days of the previous two Tests. The ball didn’t skid on either and neither has there been any sharp turn so far. Besides, the ball was red, not pink, and therefore behaving as one would imagine.
Yet the spinners, led once again by tormentor-in-chief Axar Patel (four for 68), bundled England out for a modest 205 on Day I of this fourth and final Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday. This, despite England including an extra batsman in their XI after elbow injury again ruled Jofra Archer out.
It’s fair to say England, continuing to be shaky, once again muffed things up after winning an important toss. And their excuses are fast melting away.
Courtesy James Anderson’s discipline and accuracy, they did manage to get rid of Shubman Gill, forcing Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara to be cautious till stumps, as India reached 24 for one. But with the pitch looking anything but dangerous, and England being one specialist bowler short, it’s certainly advantage India.
All that Axar needed to do was get his length right as the English batsmen did the rest. Ravichandran Ashwin came on to bowl much later than expected, but the first of his three wickets came at a crucial phase when he dismissed Ollie Pope, who squandered another good start after stitching a solid partnership with Dan Lawrence.
Credit should also go to Mohammed Siraj (coming in for Jasprit Bumrah) and Washington Sundar for being able to sustain the pressure. Washington picked up the prized scalp of Ben Stokes (55), who was looking absolutely superb, getting right behind the line of the ball and unleashing big strokes whenever sensing the opportunity. Looking set for three figures, Stokes was undone when Washington bowled a straighter one to trap him plumb in front.
Siraj accounted for Joe Root — the man England desperately needed to score big, especially after the two openers again turned out to be easy targets for Axar — beating him for pace and late movement with the first ball after morning drinks.
The fourth-wicket partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Stokes looked quite dogged. Siraj, however, cut short their repair work, jagging another one back in to get Bairstow out leg-before.
“I wanted to set Root up bowling outside off and then I thought of bringing it in. That execution gave me great satisfaction,” Siraj said later. “Whatever footage I have seen of Bairstow, he gets out to inswing deliveries, so I wanted to bowl in one area.”
Stat-o-sphere
James Anderson bowls on Thursday. Getty Images
⚫ Joe Root is now the 5th player to captain England in 50 or more Test matches. He joins Alastair Cook (59), Michael Atherton (54), Michael Vaughan (51) and Andrew Strauss (50).
⚫ This Test is Virat Kohli’s 60th of his career. He now equals the tally of MS Dhoni, the most by an India captain.
⚫ Kohli has become the seventh captain in history to lead in 60 or more Test matches. Only Graeme Smith (109), Allan Border (93), Stephen Fleming (80), Ricky Ponting (77) and Clive Lloyd (74) have led in more Test matches than Dhoni and Kohli.
⚫ This is the first time after five innings that England have been able to surpass a total of 200 since their 578 in the first Test at Chennai. Since then their totals have been 178; 134 & 164; 112 & 81 and now 205.
⚫ James Anderson claimed his 104th duck victim in his Test career when he took the wicket of Shubman Gill. He equals the record of Glenn McGrath of having the most duck victims in Test cricket.
Mohandas Menon
