Spinners put England in sight of huge lead

India 219 for 7 (Jaiswal 73, Bashir 4-84) trail England 353 (Root 122*, Robinson 58, Jadeja 4-67) by 134 runs

Shoaib Bashir spun India into the danger zone with a four-wicket haul that ensured England ended the second day of the fourth Test still 134 runs ahead and needing only three more wickets to secure a crucial first-innings lead on a deteriorating pitch in Ranchi.
Bashir, the 20-year-old offspinner playing only his second Test after making his debut in Visakhapatnam, snared 4 for 84 during a marathon unbroken spell of 31 overs spanning the entire middle session. It was broken only to change ends in the fading light of the evening to squeeze out one more over. His haul included the wicket of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose half-century was India’s only score of over 40. At the close, Dhruv Jurel was unbeaten on 30, joined by Kuldeep Yadav on 17.

James Anderson had Rohit Sharma caught behind for just 2 in the third over of India’s first innings. With the pitch behaving better than its appearance suggested it might early on, before keeping increasingly low as the day wore on, Jaiswal settled in as expected of a player who had scored double-centuries in his previous two Tests.

Jaiswal and Shubman Gill started to find their groove after lunch. Gill brought up the 50 partnership with a couple of fours in one Anderson over before Jaiswal lifted Bashir over mid-on for six. England thought they’d broken their flow when Jaiswal, on 40, edged a wide delivery from Ollie Robinson low towards a diving Ben Foakes, who thought he’d taken the catch, but the third umpire ruled that it was grounded.

Bashir returned to the England side after missing the third Test, replacing Rehan Ahmed, and doubled his wicket tally, his latest efforts putting England in position to level the series 2-2 with three days remaining.

He had Gill lbw after an 82-run stand with Jaiswal, which allowed India to recover from 4 for 1 to 86 for 2, with one that turned sharply to beat the inside edge. He then rapped Rajat Patidar on the pad with one that skidded on from outside off stump and would have gone on to ping leg.

Ravindra Jadeja crashed back-to-back sixes over the leg side off Tom Hartley after surviving England’s lbw review the previous ball, but he was Bashir’s third wicket, defending a top-spinner from a good length which hooped into Ollie Pope’s hands at short leg.

More to follow

Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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