Ashwin floors England in second Test

When stumps were drawn on day three, India were at 98/3 with Virat Kolhi (51) and Ajinkya Rahane (22) at the crease.

In the afternoon, it was business as usual for India’s talismanic spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The off-spinner took five wickets for 67, his 22nd five-wicket haul in Test cricket, to run through England’s lower order and skittle the visitors out for 255, giving the hosts a 200-run lead. 

Kohli didn’t enforce the follow-on, understandable enough as he wouldn’t fancy his team’s chances batting on a deteriorating fifth-day wicket. The Indian openers’ woes against the England seamers continued in the second essay when Murali Vijay and K L Rahul perished in the first 10 overs. 

Vijay, on the front foot, got an inside edge onto his pads and the ball ballooned to gully where Joe Root lunged forward to take the catch. With Rod Tucker dismissing Stuart Broad’s appeal, the England bowlers went upstairs and the umpire’s decision was reversed. Hasab Hameed seemed to have made amends for his DRS miss in the first Test when he convinced Alastair Cook to review after Broad got the faintest of edges off Rahul’s bat and India were in a spot of bother at 17/2. 

Things seemed to take a turn for the worst after James Anderson sneaked a ripper through Cheteshwar Pujara’s bat and pad as India were three down for 40. 

The onus fell on India’s skipper and Kohli duly obliged the fans and his team’s hopes with a half-century. Along with his deputy, Kolhi added 58 runs as India consolidated their position in the match. Earlier, the first hour on the third day belonged to Ben Stokes and Jonathan Bairstow. Contrary to the expectations of the Indian spinners running riot, Stokes and Bairstow dug deep to show exemplary character to stitch a 110-run partnership for the sixth wicket, the resistance lasting 208 balls. Bairstow’s arrival to the middle seemed to be an indication of England’s fortunes of tumbling down. The batsman came out jogging, lost his footing and rolled over his ankle only to return briefly back to the dressing room for treatment. However, once he faced Umesh Yadav, the wicket-keeper batsman sent a clear message on his intentions. 

Umesh got the breakthrough at the stroke of lunch when he beat Bairstow with pace and the ball thudded onto his pads and deflected to disturb the stumps. It was a hard-earned wicket and the cheers from the holiday crowd and coach Anil Kumble from the dressing room said it all. With 53 to his credit from 152 balls, Bairstow had pulled England out of a massive hole. Stokes looked determined and punished Ashwin and Jayant Yadav whenever they bowled short. From being labelled as a hopeless batsman against spin, Stokes’ maturity was visible with a neat stance and a solid straight bat defence against the spinners. 

Ashwin then trapped Stokes in front to end the left-hander’s vigil for 70. Ravindra Jadeja accounted for Zafar Ansari.  Kumar Dharmasena was the talking point once again when he ruled Broad out lbw to Ashwin, even as replays suggested the ball missing the leg stump. With Broad in a situation where he couldn’t take technology’s help, he had to make the long walk back to the hut. Anderson joined him the next ball, falling leg-before to Ashwin as India ran through the Lions’ tail.