Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his 35th five-wicket-haul on Day 3 afternoon to guide India to a comfortable position in the fourth Test match against England in Ranchi on Sunday. Rohit Sharma's men were reeling at 177/7 when wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel turned the tide with a sublime 90.
Ravichandran Ashwin (5/51) derailed the English batters with his variations of sliders, carrom ball and classical off-spinners on a wicket where the ball kept low. Erudite bowler Ravichandran Ashwin read the behaviour of the surface and tried to generate extra bounce by adding more power in his release on certain occasions.
He removed Ben Duckett (15), Ollie Pope (0) and Joe Root (11) in quick succession. Sarfaraz Khan caught Duckett at forward short leg while Pope and Root were lbw dismissals. Ravichandran Ashwin caught Ben Foakes (17) off his own bowling in the 54th over. Two balls later, Dhruv Jurel caught James Anderson behind the stumps to restrict England's lead to 191.
Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav played a strong ally to Ravichandran Ashwin by returning 4/22 at an economy of 1.50. The left-armer ran through Zak Crawley (60) and captain Ben Stokes (4) before dismissing Ollie Robinson and Tom Hartley. The delivery to Stokes kept very low.
Dhruv Jurel's rescue act
Earlier in the day, India's new wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel from Agra played the rescue act. The youngster added 76 runs for the eighth wicket with Kuldeep Yadav, who was solid in his defence and technique. Dhruv Jurel's 90 came off 149 balls, including six fours and four sixes, while Kuldeep stood like a rock for 131 balls for his 28.
Dhruv Jurel had a gameplan. He picked his bowlers and did not go berserk due to lack of wickets in hand. Three sixes came off Shoaib Bashir's bowling, the rookie spinner who picked up a fifer in the first innings.
After Kuldeep's dismissal in the 89th over, Dhruv Jurel added 40 runs with debutant Akash Deep, who scored 9 off 29.
Sunil Gavaskar later called Jurel another MS Dhoni-in-the-making.
IND v ENG 4th Test at Ranchi: What to expect on Day 4
India already made 40 of the 192 runs needed for victory at stumps without losing a wicket. They need 152 more. Rohit Sharma (24*) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (16*) will be keen to finish it by lunch, but it could be a tricky chase on a new day.
IND v ENG 4th Test records
R. Ashwin surpassed Anil Kumble as the bowler with most Test wickets in India. Kumble had 350 wickets at home, and now Ashwin has 352.
The fifth Test in Dharamsala will be Ashwin's 100th Test match.
IND v ENG 4th Test brief scores
ENG 353 & 145
IND 307 & 40/0
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