England capitulated against India on Day 3 at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi as Rohit Sharma’s men now require 152 more runs on Day 4 with 10 wickets in hand to complete the job after dismissing the English batters on a score of 145 runs with Ravichandran Ashwin starring with a fifer while Kuldeep Yadav took 4 wickets in the second innings.
After bowling 32 overs on Day 2, Shoaib Bashir kicked off the proceedings on Day 3 and continued to bowl tight lines while Ollie Robinson was overstepping a bit more than usual and leaked a few runs.
English skipper Ben Stokes took the new ball right away after the 80th over and Anderson broke Kuldeep’s resolve as the lower-order batter tried to defend the ball into the ground but it bounced off his shoes and dislodged the bails ending a praiseworthy innings of 28 runs off 131 balls.
Dhruv Jurel completed his half-century on the first ball of the next over and the wicket-keeper batter started building a new partnership with Akash Deep after a brilliant 76-run stand with Kuldeep for the 8th wicket.
Jurel finally unleashed his shots in the 97th over, going straight down the ground and piercing the long-on and the long-off fielder for a six and a four off the first two balls.
In Bashir’s next over, Jurel smacked the ball over the long-on region for his third maximum of the innings and Akash decided to join the party in Bashir’s next over as he sent the ball flying over the mid-wicket region.
The young off-spinner finally got his revenge and his maiden 5-wicket haul as he trapped the debutant LBW who became the fourth Indian batter to get an Umpire’s Call on his LBW dismissal in the innings ending a valiant 40-run partnership between the pair.
Batting with No. 11 Mohammed Siraj, Jurel decided to take the matter into his own hands by smacking Tom Hartley for a maximum and a four entering the nervous nineties which proved to be his undoing in the next over as the left-arm orthodox spinner castled his off-stump getting the prized wicket of the Rajasthan Royals’ wicket-keeper batter at a score of 90 runs off 149 balls on the board which included 6 boundaries and 4 sixes.
The hosts put on a total of 307 runs courtesy of the contributions from the lower order trailing the visitors by 46 runs after both sides had taken turns at batting in the fourth test.
Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja started off the proceedings with the ball for India as Ben Duckett scored the first boundary of the innings via a paddle sweep off the left-arm spinner’s bowling.
The southpaw’s stay didn’t last long at the crease though as he found Sarfaraz Khan fielding at forward short leg cutting short his innings at a score of 15 runs off 15 balls off Ashwin’s bowling.
Ollie Pope became the first batter to bag a king pair in the series as he was dismissed for a silver duck in the first innings and got a golden duck in the second innings as he tried to hang back in the crease and defend but was trapped LBW by Ashwin.
Joe Root joined Zak Crawley in the middle and the duo stabilised the English innings after two early wickets with Crawley unleashing his aggressive shots against Ashwin smashing three boundaries in the ninth over of the innings.
After a 46-run partnership for the third wicket, Ashwin trapped Root on the pads but the umpire wasn’t convinced and the experienced off-spinner had to almost force the Indian skipper Sharma to take the DRS which showed three reds making the centurion from the first innings walk back to the pavilion after contributing only 11 runs in the second innings.
After Root’s dismissal, Jonny Bairstow arrived at the crease and stamped his authority with a few boundaries. In the 24th over, Crawley reached the 50-run mark yet again, bringing up his third half-century of the series and forcing Rohit to hand the ball to Kuldeep for the first time in the innings.
Kuldeep Yadav was brilliant with the ball in hand
On the last ball of the 26th over, the ball turned and bounced sharply beating Bairstow but Jurel couldn’t anticipate the bounce fluffing a stumping chance. Only 13 balls later, Kuldeep ended Crawley’s stay at the crease as he undid the bails ending the opening batter’s innings at a score of 60 runs off 91 balls that included 7 boundaries.
Stokes survived a DRS call in the 30th over courtesy of the Umpire’s Call which he has been strongly advocating against throughout the series but Kuldeep removed him from the 22-yard patch in the 33rd over as the ball hit Stokes on the pad and ricocheted onto the stumps. Ben Foakes joined Bairstow in the middle and took England to a score of 120/5 at the end of the second session.
The hosts started the third session with the wicket off the first ball as Bairstow irresponsibly scooped the ball straight to Rajat Patidar at short cover off Jadeja’s bowling ending his innings at a score of 30 runs off 42 balls.
Hartley tried to take the attack to the Indian spinners for the umpteenth time in the series with a huge maximum off Jadeja’s bowling but that was all he could contribute before becoming Kuldeep’s third victim of the day holing out at long-on with Sarfaraz completing a brilliant low catch.
Robinson survived an LBW call from umpire Kumar Dharamsena on the first ball he faced but he was trapped LBW once again in the same over as he couldn’t disturb the scorers after a half-century in the first innings.
The pair of Foakes and Bashir put on 12 runs in 12 overs before Ashwin completed a brilliant reflex catch off his own bowling in the 54th over ending the wicket-keeper batter’s innings at a score of 17 runs off 76 balls. Later in the same over, James Anderson was dismissed for a duck becoming the second English batter to grab a king’s pair in the fourth test.
With that wicket, Ashwin completed his 35th 5-wicket haul in a 99-Test career bowling out England on a score of 145 runs who set a target of 192 runs for the hosts.
Yashaswi Jaiswal and skipper Rohit procured 5 boundaries in the first four overs with the former Mumbai Indians captain smashing four of those boundaries helping India reach 40/0 at stumps on Day 3.