England Burn to ash

ACHENNAI: It was the last ball before tea on Sunday. England’s Dan Lawrence had played more than 50 balls by then. Though he hadn’t scored freely, he seemed poised for some more time on the wicket. R Ashwin, India’s wily spinner, runs towards the crease in his inimitable style. All of a sudden stops, retraces his steps, waits. For a batsman who wants to negate the last ball before a break, those few seconds are painful. You take your stance again and wait for the bowler.

Ashwin takes a little more time before striding towards the crease. Lawrence’s bat jabs at the ball that was a little short than his long reach. Ball flies to short leg. Out! Lawrence stood stunned. Ashwin rejoices. That summed up England’s day — lack of application on an over-talked-about pitch. On the second day of the Test, the pitch did turn but it was not as diabolical in nature. Fifteen wickets fell — five hosts’ and 10 visitors’. With Ashwin’s 29th five-wicket haul, India are sitting top now, with 249-run lead and nine wickets in hand after bowling out England for 134 runs.

Whether this is a good pitch or not is debatable. However, it is worth noting how England responded to India’s first innings total of 329. Barring Ben Foakes, others batted as if they had left their fate to the pitch.
Rory Burns was leg before (to a pacer), Dom Sibley was caught at leg slip after failing to connect a sweep, Joe Root tried to sweep Axar Patel against the turn, only for the top-edge to settle in Ashwin’s palms at square leg. Interestingly, when Rohit Sharma kept sweeping on Saturday, England didn’t even have a fielder there. But for Root, it was a high-risk shot.

Then Lawrence. Ben Stokes played the wrong line soon after lunch, Ollie Pope was caught down the leg (off a pacer). Pitch did have a role in their dismissals at times but there was a hint of panic and lack of application. On a pitch where England bowled as many as 20 full-tosses, India bowled zero. Unlike England’s attack, India were disciplined. The views from the two dressing rooms too seem interesting. England coach Graham Thorpe felt though at times the pitch did behave awkwardly, but execution of plan was important.

“We spoke about having plans being clear in the area where you can attack, rotate strike and how you can defend. But that didn’t happen. There is an element of picking the length well. So you can score or trust your defence. That is how we try to simplify the plans. But you have to go and execute.” Make no mistake, this pitch is a turner. It is dry and batting isn’t easy, especially against bowlers who can trouble batsmen making use of the rough patches. As Foakes showed during his 107-ball unbeaten 42, if the batsmen are prepared to be patient, runs can come.  

Scoreboard
India 1st innings (overnight 300-6): Pant (not out) 58, Axar st Foakes b Ali 5, Ishant c Burns b Ali 0, Kuldeep c Foakes b Stone 0, Siraj c Foakes b Stone 4. Extras 0. Total (95.5 overs, all out) 329. FOW: 7-301, 8-301, 9-325. Bowling: Broad 11-2-37-0, Stone 15.5-5-47-3, Leach 27-3-78-2, Stokes 2-0-16-0, Ali 29-3-128-4, Root 11-3-23-1. 

England 1st innings: Burns lbw Ishant 0, Sibley c Kohli b Ashwin 16, Lawrence c Gill b Ashwin 9, Root c Ashwin b Axar 6, Stokes b Ashwin 18, Pope c Pant b Siraj 22, Foakes (not out) 42, Ali c Rahane b Axar 6, Stone c Rohit b Ashwin 1, Leach c Pant b Ishant 5, Broad b Ashwin 0. Extras (b4, lb4, nb1) 9. Total (59.5, all out) 134. FOW: 1-0, 2-16, 3-23, 4-39, 5-52, 6-87, 7-105, 8-106, 9-131. Bowling: Ishant 5-1-22-2, Ashwin 23.5-4-43-5, Patel 20-3-40-2, Kuldeep 6-1-16-0, Siraj 5-4-5-1. 

India 2nd innings: Rohit (batting) 25, Gill lbw Leach 14, Pujara (batting) 7. Extras (b5, lb3) 8. Total (18 overs, 1 wicket) 54. FOW: 1-42.

Contentious call again
After third umpire Anil Chaudhary came under the spotlight on Day 1, on the second day, Virender Sharma’s decision to say Rohit Sharma offered a shot to a delivery he padded-up raised eyebrows. The opener hid his bat behind the pads while trying to defend Moeen Ali. Not convinced by Virender’s decision, England reviewed it. Chaudhary could only play the replay till point of impact as the onfield umpire had said Rohit had offered shot. The ball-tracker showed the ball was crashing the stumps. 

268 R Ashwin with 268 scalps surpassed Harbhajan Singh (265) to become the second highest wicket-taker in Tests in India.

9 Ashwin is 9 short of 400 Test wickets. 

15 Number of wickets fell on Day 2 of the second Test. 

71 No of runs for England’s top six, the fewest runs they have had in an innings where they were all dismissed since Headingley 2019.

Full story: newindiaexpress.com