India took a huge 259-run first innings lead before Ravichandran Ashwin ran through England's self-destructing top-order to leave them reeling at 103 for five in their second innings at lunch on day three of the fifth Test in Dharamsala on Saturday. (Day 3 Blog | Scorecard | Cricket News)
India could add only four runs to their overnight score to end with 477 in response to England's 218.
The visitors took less than 20 minutes to wrap up India's innings with veteran James Anderson finally getting to the 700-wicket mark. Young off-spinner Shoaib Bashir had Jasprit Bumrah stumped for his second five-wicket haul of his debut series.
Advertisement
England's second innings moved at a rather frenetic pace as the batters mainly resorted to attacking the Indian spinners in their bid to survive but failed yet again.
England skipper Ben Stokes (2) cut a sorry figure after falling to Ashwin at the stroke of lunch with a straighter one. England still need 157 runs to make India bat again, which looks highly unlikely.
With Rohit Sharma not taking the field due to a stiff back, Bumrah led the side in the middle besides opening the bowling alongside Ashwin.
Advertisement
Playing his 100th Test, Ashwin once again got the better of England opener Ben Duckett (2). The southpaw, who had struggled defending against Ashwin in the previous games, charged down the wicket for a counter-attacking hit but was no near to the pitch of the ball, resulting in a bowled dismissal.
Ashwin had leg slip in place for Zak Crawley (0) with the pitch offering a fair amount of turn and bounce. The England opener got an inside edge on to the pads and deflected straight into the hands of Sarfaraz Khan at leg-slip.
Ollie Pope (19), who is a tentative starter, was Ashwin's third victim. It was an error in judgement again from an England batter as he went for an audacious sweep off a delivery that went straight with the arm and was also on the shorter side.
Jonny Bairstow (39 off 31), who is also playing his 100th Test, joined Joe Root in the middle and went on the offensive from the get go.
Playing with the spin, Bairstow hammered three thundering sixes off Ashwin on the on side before being adjudged lbw off Kuldeep Yadav. It was another boom-and-bust knock that Bairstow played in the series.
He exchanged a few words with Shubman Gill stationed at first slip and lost his concentration in the process. Root was left stranded on 34 off 52 balls at the break.
