England spinner Shoaib Bashir took a four-for on day 2 (Feb 24) of the fourth Test against India in Ranchi to put his team ahead in the contest.
India were trailing by 134 runs at the end of day’s play with Dhruv Jurel (30) and Kuldeep Yadav (17) on the crease as the hosts finished the day on 219/7. Bashir took three wickets in the second session of the day to exploit India’s inexperienced batting line-up.
Skipper Rohit Sharma was first Indian wicket to fall off James Anderson and India headed to lunch at 34/1 after bowling England out for 353 in the first innings. Shubman Gill (38) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (73) then added 82 runs for the second wicket to steady the ship before Bashir trapped Gill LBW. Rajat Patidar and Ravindra Jadeja were next to fall, both to Bashir, as India lost three wickets in the second session for less than 100 runs.
Starting the last session at 131/4, Jaiswal’s big wicket was also claimed by Bashir as India became five down at just 161. Tom Hartley then took the wickets of Sarfaraz Khan and Ravi Ashwin to leave the hosts reeling at 177/7.
Jurel and spinner Kuldeep then added unbeaten 42 runs for the eighth wicket to frustrate England who were looking set to get a big lead after Hartley’s twin wickets.
Earlier, England started from their overnight score of 302/7 with Ollie Robinson and Joe Root on the crease. The duo added 102 runs for the eight wicket before Robinson, who magnificent scored 58, was taken out by Jadeja. England’s next two wickets fell cheaply but Joe Root stayed unbeaten on 122 on the other end.