R. Ashwin celebrates the wicket of of England’s Joe Root during the 4th day of the 2nd Test cricket match between India and England at ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on February 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak
Zak Crawley made his second successive fifty of the game but India got five important wickets in the session to reduce England to 194 for six at lunch on day four and close in on a series-levelling win in the second Test here on Monday.
On expected lines, England did not hold back in attacking the Indian spinners who hung in there to get the timely breakthroughs. The visitors still managed to make 127 runs in the session but lost too many wickets.
Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Crawley (73) while Jasprit Bumrah trapped Jonny Bairstow (26) in front at the stroke of lunch to deal a massive blow to England, who still need 205 runs for an improbable win.
Crawley was by far the best batter on show, mixing caution and aggression perfectly before being adjudged lbw off Kuldeep with a close DRS call.
On the sixth ball of his first over, Kuldeep got one to turn back in from middle stump. It seemed the ball was going down leg but DRS showed that it was hitting the middle of the leg-stump.
Ben Stokes, who had not faced a ball, was left stranded at the break.
India’s standout bowler in the game, Bumrah, bowled his heart out in the two-hour session. For someone who has been operating in four-over spells, Bumrah bowled one extra in his opening burst before returning towards the end of the session to send back Bairstow.
The variable bounce is coming into play but the pitch remains decent for batting.
While Crawley was measured in his approach, the likes of Root and Pope perished while going for their strokes. Root, in particular, would be disappointed with his effort as he danced down the track and went for a wild slog without getting to the pitch of the ball to be caught at short third man, giving Ashwin his 499th wicket.
While Axar Patel found Rehan’s pads with a straighter one, Pope offered a sharp catch to Rohit Sharma at first slip off Ashwin and the Indian skipper made no mistake in pouching it.
Scores
India 1st innings: 396; England 1st innings: 253
India 2nd innings: 255
England 2nd innings: (overnight 67/1) Zak Crawley lbw b Kuldeep Yadav 73 Ben Duckett c Bharat b Ashwin 28 Rehan Ahmed lbw b Patel 23 Ollie Pope c Sharma b Ashwin 23 Joe Root c Patel b Ashwin 16 Jonny Bairstow lbw b Bumrah 26 Ben Stokes batting 0 Extras: (B-4, NB-1) 5
Total: (For 6 wickets, 42.4 overs) 194
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-95, 3-132, 4-154, 5-194, 6-194.
Bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 11.4-3-31-1, Mukesh Kumar 2-0-19-0, Kuldeep Yadav 5-0-23-1, Ravichandran Ashwin 10-1-42-3, Axar Patel 14-1-75-1.
