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Ashwin presides over England’s latest trial by spin
- Updated: November 18, 2016
England 103 for 5 (Stokes 12*, Bairstow 12*) trail India 455 (Kohli 167, Pujara 119, Ashwin 58, Moeen 3-98) by 352 runs Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
At every critical juncture of this typically subcontinental Test match, England’s cricketers have inadvertently been telegraphing their sense of impending doom. It was visible in Alastair Cook’s body language after losing a vital toss; it resurfaced on the first afternoon when Virat Kohli was dropped at fine leg by Adil Rashid, and there were tremors again this morning, when Moeen Ali’s offbreaks began to find the purchase necessary to check India’s innings before it could run away.
But it wasn’t until the second afternoon at Visakhapatnam that their deep-seated pessimism began gushing to the surface like an Andhra Pradesh oil strike. By the close of a gripping and debilitating third session, with India’s trio of spinners tormenting both sides of a succession of stick-or-twist blades, the destiny of this contest was all but pre-ordained.
England limped to the close on 103 for 5, in reply to India’s 455, having contributed massively to their own downfall with a succession of hare-brained departures, but equally, having had their minds and techniques scrambled by the dripping-tap accuracy of, in particular, the offspinners R Ashwin and Jayant Yadav.
Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin played its part as well, darting the ball in flat and fast to challenge the front pad and leave England’s batsmen no time to gather their thoughts between deliveries. But it was Ashwin who applied the surgical strikes, his 12 overs yielding 15 runs and two wickets, including the crowning scalp of Joe Root for 53 and the hapless Ben Duckett for 5.
Meanwhile Jayant, shrewdly handed a debut in response to England’s selection of a record seven left-handers, showcased a tall and tidy technique, and accounted of one of that number as his maiden Test wicket. Moeen Ali, one of England’s four centurions at Rajkot, was struck on the shin as he pressed forward to another wicket-to-wicket delivery, and sent on …
