Shoaib Bashir’s four-fer leaves India gasping for breath on Day 2 as England tighten grip in Ranchi Test

Shoaib Bashir ran through the Indian batting lineup and ended the day with four wickets to his name as England restricted India to 219/7 after posting a challenging 353 on the board on Day 2 of the fourth Test in Ranchi.

Off-spinner Bashir, who had missed his team’s victory in Hyderabad due to visa trouble and made his international debut in Visakhapatnam, collected three wickets in quick succession to leave India in a precarious position of 131/4 at tea. The hosts had managed to recover from a shaky start thanks to a solid second-wicket stand between opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (73) and Shubman Gill (38), only for Bashir’s three-wicket burst to bring the Ben Stokes-led side back in the game.

Bashir would then add to his tally by getting the prized wicket of the in-form Jaiswal, who ended up getting an under-edge onto the stumps to a delivery that stayed lower than usual and missed out on a third century in as many matches in the process. Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley too chipped in with a couple of wickets in the evening session, getting rid of Sarfaraz Ahmed and Ravichandran Ashwin to leave India reeling at 177/7 and England staring at a big first innings lead.

Read | India’s batting frailties resurface on tricky Ranchi wicket

Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel (30 not out) and tailender Kuldeep Yadav (17 not out) however, steadied the hosts with a patient 42-run partnership to ensure India lost no further wickets and managed to cross the 200-mark before stumps.

The two batters played late and did not commit early into their shots, a ply that worked well in their unbeaten 42-run stand.

This was after England’s first innings folded for 353 after starting the day at 302 for seven. The total could have been bigger if Ollie Robinson (58) had not attempted an audacious reverse sweep off Ravindra Jadeja.

The 22-year-old Jaiswal yet again produced a confident knock. He now has scored 618 runs with an average of 103 in this series. He looked for another big one before being done in by low bounce.

Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley returned with figures of 2/47 that included the crucial breakthrough of Sarfaraz Khan (14) who had a frustrating stay. He also survived a run-out.

India lost Rohit Sharma (2) cheaply when old warhorse James Anderson induced a faint-edge from the skipper in the third over of their innings.

But thereafter, Jaiswal showed why he is India’s latest run machine when he overcame some anxious moments to post his fourth fifty-plus score in this series.

From a watchful start, India No 3 Gill accelerated post-lunch break, taking on Anderson with two elegant boundaries — one flick off the pads, and a punch straight back down the ground.

But Bashir gave England the breakthrough by trapping Gill, halting the fine 82-run alliance between Gill and Jaiswal.

He delivered a ball that took off the crack just outside off stump, trapped Gill on the pad as Indians reviewed unsuccessfully.

It sort of triggered the Indian collapse as the batters failed to grind deep in, showing little application.

Having given a lifeline after sloppy displays in Rajkot, Patidar had a nervy and tentative stay.

The only bright spot of his innings was driving down Anderson past gully for a boundary that brought up the 100 for India.

It was just a matter of time before Bashir trapped him with a ball that skidded onto his pads.

Post his century in Rajkot, Jadeja retained his No 5 spot and counter-attacked Hartley for successive sixes.

But Bashir was in the thick of the action again as his ball came off the cracks with Jadeja managing to loop the ball straight to short leg.

England added 51 valuable runs to their overnight total as the Indian attack failed to make early penetration. The last five England batters added 241 runs after being 112/5 at lunch on the opening day.

Joe Root, who dug in deep with his classical century spanning a little more than six hours, remained stranded on 122 from 274 balls (10x4).

Robinson gifted away his wicket after making a career-best 58 that resulted in England’s first innings ending at 353. Root and Robinson’s eighth wicket alliance yielded 102 runs for England.

While Mohammed Siraj (2/78) erred in his line and length, debutant Akash Deep could not add to his tally of three wickets to return with 3/38 from 19 overs. Jadeja took all the three wickets to return with 4/67 from his 32.5 overs.

Robinson had a great start to the morning when he flicked one away from a wayward Siraj in the first ball of the day for a boundary through fine leg.

There was no stopping him as he looked for every opportunity and took on Akash Deep with three boundaries that took him past his previous career-best Test score of 42.

However a bizarre shot selection ended his gritty knock as he employed a grounded reverse sweep which was not necessary at that moment as Indian bowlers were hardly troubling the visitors.

The ball missed the edge of the bat but touched the gloves of Robinson before being grabbed by 23-year-old Dhurv Jurel that ended a dogged 102-run stand with Root.

England then fell in a jiffy with Bashir swinging his bat to the second ball and skied the ball to be caught at point. Jadeja trapped Anderson to end England resistance.

Brief scores:

England 353 in 104.5 overs (Joe Root 122*, Ollie Robinson 58; Ravindra Jadeja 4/67, Akash Deep 3/83) lead India 219/7 in 73 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 73, Shubman Gill 38; Shoaib Bashir 4/84) by 134 runs.

_With PTI inputs
_