‘Excellent’ Bashir takes four wickets to put England on top

RANCHI, India: Spinner Shoaib Bashir took four wickets to lead England’s bowling charge and put India on the back foot at 219-7 on day two of the fourth Test yesterday.

The rookie off-spinner rattled the Indian reply to England’s first innings of 353 in a marathon spell of 31 overs unchanged spread over three sessions in Ranchi.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel, on 30, and Kuldeep Yadav, on 17, were batting at the close of play with an unbeaten stand of 42 but India still trail the visitors by 134 runs.

The in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal made 73 but Bashir bowled him after the left-hander attempted to defend a low ball that caught the toe of the bat and crashed into the stumps.

Bashir, who missed the opener due to a visa delay and is playing his second Test, was ably supported by two wickets from fellow spinner Tom Hartley.

Joe Root hit an unbeaten 122 for England, who trail 2-1 and are fighting to stay alive in the five-match series.

But the day belonged to Bashir, who came on to bowl in the ninth over of India’s innings and remained unchanged from his end until Root replaced him shortly before stumps.

“I think he’s been excellent since he’s come into the squad,” Root said of the 20-year-old Bashir.

“The way he bowls is a great little insight into his character and personality, he is quite cheeky and great fun to be around,” he said.

“There’s clearly a huge amount of skill in what he does. To be able to continually put pressure on some very good players of spin, I know the wicket was helpful at times, but he did an amazing job and it’s a great sign for English cricket moving forward.”

Bashir removed Shubman Gill (38) and Rajat Patidar (17), both out lbw, and then had Ravindra Jadeja caught at short leg to put India in trouble at 131-4 at tea.

“I think they bowled well,” India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said of the opposition spinners.