R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav dictate terms as India move one step closer to sealing England Test series

The tables have turned once again in the ongoing fourth Test between India and England in Ranchi. At the end of Day 2 on Saturday, it seemed that India had a huge task cut out in order to claw themselves back into the contest.

India started Day three in a tricky position, at 219/7, still trailing by 134 runs in the first innings. However, if there’s one man to get credit where it’s due, it’s the rising star in Dhruv Jurel. Had it not been for him, India may have found themselves on the back foot in Ranchi. With his knock of 90 on Sunday, Jurel may have already kept himself ahead in the pecking order, ahead of KS Bharat.

Jurel played a defining knock, showcased his temperament and patience, so much so that the legendary Sunil Gavaskar has likened him to becoming the next MS Dhoni. Afterall, who else would you want to emulate than your favourite role model?

However, it wasn’t just Jurel who had a say as far as proceedings on Sunday was concerned. Ashwin was back to what he does best and to compliment his efforts, there was Kuldeep Yadav, who just keeps getting better and better by every passing match.

Ashwin, Kuldeep prove to be decisive

Once again, England’s batters floundered. Well, a majority of them. With India all out for 307, England only had a lead of just 46 so they were in a position where they had to do almost everything from scratch. Zak Crawley (60) has been England’s silver lining as far as their batting is concerned, and yet again, he looked good enough to lead the batting from the front. Only that, there wasn’t someone with him at the other end who could play the second fiddle and maybe take the visitors’ lead to somewhere in the 200-300 region.

England’s best hope was Joe Root, but Root in fact looked a shadow of himself. Afterall, Root has often proven himself to be successful against spin. But not this time. While Root did initially negotiate with the spinners with a few pushes and drives, he was just simply unable to tackle R Ashwin. And for all you know, Ashwin can be a beast when he is at his best. Up until Ashwin’s dismissal of Root, the ball hardly turned much. But then, there it was. Ashwin went full round the wicket, going onto beat Root’s inside edge before it struck the leg stump. Root’s dismissal was a defining moment in the context of this, and getting rid of the former skipper would not have been possible without some brilliance from the all-rounder who delivers right when it matters.

England then turned to Bairstow, who came in at number five to provide some resistance with Crawley at the other end. Bairstow began on a promising note, collecting a couple of boundaries initially. The firstone he slammed Ashwin towards mid-off in the 19th over, and in the next over, Bairstow would pull a short ball behind square off Siraj. And Bairstow even attempted to rotate strike with Crawley, going for the twos and threes on a regular basis.

Bairstow, however, could have been dismissed a tad bit earlier had Jurel managed a successful stumping in the 26th over. While many would consider that reprieve as a blessing in disguise, it just wasn’t meant to be for the 34-year-old. With Crawley dismissed in the 29th over, and Stokes gone in the 33rd, Bairstow was soon running out of partners. And when you are running out of partners, it’s bound to affect your self confidence. And afterall, Bairstow had struggled against Jadeja  the most in this innings. And rightly so.

Bairstow was eventually dismissed courtesy a tossed up delivery from Jadeja in the 34th over. Bairstow was just positioning himself for the drive but ended up jabbing towards Rajat Patidar at cover. England were reeling at 120/6 following Bairstow’s dismissal, and by this point, there was almost no way for the visitors to crawl themselves back.

Although Ashwin picked his  35th fifer in Tests, Kuldeep was India’s standout bowler. His disciplined lines and lengths coupled with his impressive run-up was a testament to the bowler he has become over the last year or so.

Crawley was in fine touch. The England opener was in control of his shots and let his bat do the talking. But, it was a sharp turn from Kuldeep that did the trick. Jyst earlier, Rohit had asked Kuldeep to remove the cover fielder but Kuldeep thought otherwise, and wanted the fielder there to remain as is. And as it turns out, Kuldeep judged it pretty well. It was a short length ball from Kuldeep that Crawley looked to play through the covers, but as it turned out, Crawley did not anticipate the turn much and missed the drive on the occasion, letting the ball rattle the stumps.

Just four overs later, in the 33rd, there was turn on offer from Kuldeep yet again. And this time, Kuldeep cleaned up England skipper Ben Stokes with a delivery pitched around leg stump. Stokes on this occasion completely misjudged the ball and went for a defensive push, only for the ball to hit Stokes’ back pad en route to hitting the stumps.

India;s spinners may have defined the proceedings on Sunday, but the chase still remains a tricky one despite it being a rather comfortable one on paper. The good thing that gives India the advantage is that the hosts have all the 10 wickets in hand, and with Yashasvi Jaiswal (16*) out there, one can expect India to have a walk in the park. But if Sunday is to go by, there should be still something on offer for the England spinners, but only time, and form to an extent, will tell how the spinners, especially Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir, turn up on Monday morning.