Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates dismissing Ben Foakes of England during the third day of the fouth Test match between India and England at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi on February 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K. R. Deepak
Indian spin veteran Ravichandran Ashwin equaled compatriot Anil Kumble to become the Indian with the joint-highest five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.
The veteran achieved this milestone during the fourth Test against England in Ranchi.
During the second innings, Ashwin finally delivered his best performance of the series after not being among the wickets much in earlier matches. He took 5/51 in 15.5 overs, getting wickets of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Foakes and James Anderson.
Now, both Ashwin and Kumble have 35 Test five-wicket hauls each, which is the most by an Indian bowler. They also hold the joint fourth-highest amount of Test five-wicket hauls by a bowler, with Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan sitting at the top of the list with 67 fifers in 133 Tests. The spin wizard’s distant rival is late Australian spin great Shane Warne, who has 37 fifers in 145 Tests, followed by New Zealand legend Richard Hadlee, who has 36 five-wicket hauls in 86 Tests.
India has set a target of 192 runs to win. The hosts ended their day at 40/0, with skipper Rohit Sharma (24*) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (16*) unbeaten.
In their second inning, England was bundled out for just 145 runs, with Zak Crawley (60 in 91 balls, with seven fours) and Jonny Bairstow (30 in 42 balls, with three fours) offering some fight. Spinners took all the 10 wickets for India, with Ravichandran Ashwin (5/51) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/22) leading the bowlers. England led by 191 runs and set India a target of 192 runs to take the series win by 3-1.
Earlier, India was bundled out for 307 in their first innings in reply to England’s first innings total of 353. Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal (73 in 117 balls, with eight fours and a six) firing once again, India was left struggling at 219/7. It was wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel (90 in 149 balls, with six fours and four sixes) who joined forces with Kuldeep (28 in 131 balls) to stitch a 76-run stand for the eighth wicket and India managed to score above 300 runs. Spinner Shoaib Bashir troubled Indian batters and took a five-wicket haul (5/119). Tom Hartley (3/68) and James Anderson (2/48) were also great with the ball.
England chose to bat first and put up 353 runs in their first innings, driven by a comeback century by their premier batter Joe Root (122* in 274 balls, 10 fours), a half-century from Ollie Robinson (58 in 96 balls, with nine fours and a six) and Ben Foakes (47 in 126 balls, with four boundaries and a six). Ravindra Jadeja (4/67) and Akash Deep (3/83) were the top bowlers for India.
