Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav have taken seven wickets between them to cap a stunning turnaround for India on day three of the fourth Test against England.
Ashwin took 5-51 in 15.5 overs, while Yadav returned 4-22 in 15 overs, as England were bowled out for just 145 off 53.5 overs in their second innings on Sunday.
The paltry total left India a 192-run target to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
They reached 0-40 from eight overs at stumps on day three, with Rohit Sharma (24no) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (16no) at the crease and a further 152 needed.
England’s second innings lasted less than two sessions as Ashwin picked up his 35th five-wicket haul in Tests.
The off-spinner started the rout with the new ball after lunch. His first victim was Ben Duckett, caught at short leg for 15.
Ashwin was soon on a hat-trick after he trapped Ollie Pope lbw for a golden duck. Joe Root denied him the feat, but was out lbw to Ashwin in the 17th over for 11.
Root, who had scored 122no in the first innings, helped put on 46 runs for the third wicket with Zak Crawley. His dismissal was the turning point for England in its hopes for a 200-plus run target.
Crawley scored 60 off 91 balls, with seven fours, and pushed England past the 100-run mark. Yadav bowled him in the 29th over, and followed it up with Ben Stokes’s wicket.
Stokes was out for four, as the ball kept low and turned into his stumps off the pads. England was showing signs of strain and went to tea at 120-5.
They were 6-120 after the first ball of the last session, as Jonny Bairstow (30) chipped Ravindra Jadeja (1-56) straight to cover.
Ashwin and Yadav made quick work of the lower order, though Ben Foakes (17) tried to resist.
Tom Hartley was out caught for seven off Yadav, who also trapped Ollie Robinson lbw for a three-ball duck.
Ashwin accounted for both Foakes and James Anderson to script a stunning turnaround for India, following Dhruv Jurel’s 90-run knock in the morning session.
With India resuming from an overnight 7-219, Jurel scored his maiden half-century as India finished within 46 runs of England’s first-innings total.
Jurel superbly marshalled the lower order as India was bowled out for 307 runs in reply to England’s 353.
Offspinner Shoaib Bashir took 5-119 in 44 overs, his maiden five-wicket haul, while Tom Hartley finished with 3-68 as the English spinners gave the tourists a slender lead on a progressively worsening pitch with variable low bounce.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Ollie Robinson has worked on his waistline, now he needs to work on his awareness and catching. A pretty pivotal moment. Might find himself rotated out for the 5th test. Terrific win for India batting last. :thumbup:
Jack
Roar Rookie
One of the great bottle jobs from England. India were 7/177 over 170 runs behind. Keep backing yourself lads.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
India should win this at 3 down, but geez, those cracks are contributing to some havoc for the batters. – Hartley is bowling way too full. But if the intention is to bowl full in the hopes of getting a nick/edge from a drive at a fuller ball, then where are the close-in fielders? With less than 80 runs needed, what’s the point of covering the boundary? Surely wickets for England is the only currency now? – In order to win, England need to attack, not defend.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Nah. I'd award the choice to the team that lost the previous match. In the case of a draw, the team holding the right to choose in the drawn match (because they had previously lost the earlier match), retains the choice. Sometimes a visiting team can be dominant on tour, so no need to give them extra advantage if they are already strong. It's not a perfect solution, but there isn't a perfect solution, so - for the sake of competitiveness in a series - may as well grant the choice to the previous losing team. Evens things out a bit.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I'd go the whole series.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Yeah, the toss, whilst traditional, is pretty archaic. Give the visiting team the choice in the first game, and thereafter the choice reverts to which ever team didn't win the previous game. Fairly simple.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Really appreciate this comment. I thought it was just me who thought that. The guys you named were outstanding against all bowling, as is Kohli, but the rest of the current side..... not so much.
jammel
Roar Rookie
I agree Tufanooos! I think the English really missed a trick in the third innings. Needed to knuckle down and bat long! Like Foakes tried to do.... Pitch was difficult, but not unplayable at all. As Hitman Rohit is showing rn!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
He's joined that other owl: Smith Hoo
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Just looking at the current series averages for India for this XI (real time): Rohit (8 innings) - 41.86 Jaiswal (8) - 93.57 Gill (8) 41.71 Patidar (5) 12.60 Jadeja (4) 53.25 Sarfraz (3) - 72.00 Jurel (2) - 68.00 Virat who?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
The DropBair is livid at the reprobate standards of morality in the game.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Get rid of the toss. Was Warnie the advocate of this? It makes sense to me. Everything else goes the home team's way.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Looking forward to seeing how Jaiswal goes in Australia in the summer. Is a brilliant timer of the ball square (front and late) where the ball comes off the wicket fairly soft. Will be interesting to see how he adjusts his game against bounce, as he's one helluva a talent. Also reckon Gill will have a big series in Oz; he is unusual for an India batsmen - plays with hard hands and isn't afraid of the drive. Think he will further build on his past tour experience here and produce some very important innings. Can't wait for summer - finally, a five-Test series against India; will be a ripper of a Test summer. The way Test cricket should be! Hopefully CA promote the bejeebus out of the series!
Tempo
Roar Rookie
I think the pitch standards they have are fine, it's more that the penalties need to be better - and the ICC needs to stop softening pitch ratings when home boards complain. The Indore pitch in the last Border Gavaskar Trophy series was marked poor, then re-rated to below average after the BCCI protested. The punishment for a below average pitch is a slap on the wrist - you need to accumulate 6 demerit points over a 5 year period to be suspended for 12 months. A ground in India is not going to host 6 test matches over a 5 year period, so in reality a single demerit point is no punishment at all - you could roll out below average pitches every test match without consequence. Instead of this, there should be a World Test Championship points deduction for sub-standard pitches, as there is for over rate penalties. Part of the reason for the growth in below par pitches is home boards trying to create more extreme pitches to guarantee results. Aside from that, I think the pitch standards as written are fit for purpose - the problem is in the enforcement of them and the penalties. That said, I think overall the pitches in this series have been quite good and even this one has produced a compelling contest even if it isn't really a test-standard pitch due to the extreme uneven bounce.
Brasstax
Roar Rookie
"The Indians mythical ability to play spin" As an Indian, I can state that train left the station long back with the retirements of Sehwag, Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly. Since 2012, Indians play spin with the same ability as the Aussies and Poms. Not that much better to be honest. If this was the 2004 Indian test team, a win will be a foregone conclusion. With this Indian team and it's (non) ability to play spin, it still is pretty much anybody's game.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Did Booth try saying those words when he was typing them? I'm sure that that could've helped
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Good call. It's not as though their batsmen gave them much time to rest & recover. :happy:
astro
Roar Rookie
Maybe they were gassed? Bashir bowled 44 overs in the first innings so had to be tired, and Anderson isn't 'young' by cricketing standards. Only reason I can think of...
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I'm not clear why Stokes thought it was a good idea to not bowl his best bowler at all? Equally unclear why it took 7 overs of pretty ordinary spin bowling for Stokes to realise he'd allowed the Indians to get off the exactly the sort of start they badly wanted? I'd have thought 8 overs of Anderson and Bashir was the way to go. I doubt greatly India would have been 0 for 40 with those two operating
astro
Roar Rookie
"assuming the Poms don’t bowl too many “hit me” balls"...this was the exact problem last night. Root and Hartley opened the bowling and neither were good.