ALI SHUFFLE HAS INDIA ON CANVAS
Moeen puts gripping Test on a knife-edge
MOEEn Ali admitted it was ‘great to be back’ after he took five wickets on the second day of his Test return against India to leave the series on a knife-edge.
England, who lead 2-1 after three Tests, reached stumps on six without loss in their second innings, trailing India by 21 runs, after Ali’s five for 63 ran through the tourists’ middle order.
Only Cheteshwar Pujara, with a superb unbeaten 132, offered much resistance. ‘It’s about believing you’re not a bad player after one bad winter,’ said Moeen, referring to his disastrous Ashes series. ‘Many players have gone through that. Australia is always a difficult place for foreign spinners.
‘For me, mentally, it was about getting over that and coming back knowing I’ve played India in England before and done well.
‘I really enjoyed going back to county cricket at Worcester and having a bit of a break. It was nice to get a call-up when I was in decent nick with bat and ball.’
Moeen now has five-fors in both his Southampton Tests against India. He drew on his experience here four years ago, when he finished with eight wickets in the match.
‘Last time I was here gave me a bit of confidence for today,’ he said. ‘It brings back memories and it’s nice to have that at the back of your mind.’
Meanwhile, Indian assistant coach Sanjay Bangar was especially critical of two of Moeen’s victims after a post-tea flurry of wickets left the tourists 195 for eight.
‘A couple of the dismissals were pretty soft,’ said Bangar. ‘Hardik Pandya wasn’t on top of the ball when he played his shot and (Ravichandran) Ashwin attempted that reverse sweep at a pretty early stage of his innings. Had he been batting with the tail, you might have thought that shot was on.’
After helping Sam Curran rescue England with the bat on the first day, Moeen made a significant intervention just as India were poised to take this pivotal Test away from their hosts.
When Virat Kohli’s side stood at 142 for two in reply to England’s 246 it looked certain they would win the game and take it to a series decider next week at the Oval.
Then the match took an unexpected twist when Curran forced a loose shot from the bat of Kohli that gave Alastair Cook a catch at first slip and sparked a clatter of wickets as spectacular as even England’s top order have managed in recent times.
next to go was Ajinkya Rahane when Joe Root, enjoying a good day in the field, introduced Ben Stokes, the man who has troubled him more than most this series, even though he could bowl only at around three-quarter pace.
It was enough as Stokes trapped him with a boomerang inswinger to claim a wicket that was only just allowed to stand as it was perilously close to a no-ball. TV official Joel Wilson rightly decided a fraction of Stokes heel was behind the line.
Enter Moeen firstly to end the misery of Rishabh Pant, who went scoreless for 29 balls, on the stroke of tea and then to give England the ascendancy for the first time in the match with four more wickets after the break.
At one stage Moeen was on for his second Test hat-trick in 13 months after bowling Ashwin, bizarrely attempting a reverse sweep, and Mohammed Shami, beaten all ends up, in consecutive balls.
Ishant Sharma may have stopped Moeen making history as only the fifth bowler to claim two Test hat-tricks but this was superb from a man who has been in the form of his life with both bat and ball for Worcestershire.
Pujara showed considerable skill in hogging the strike in a last wicket-stand of 46 with the unlikely figure of Jasprit Bumrah, who is a throwback himself with his batting inadequacy.
It took the second new ball and Stuart Broad to end Bumrah’s resistance, leave Pujara unbeaten on 132 and give under pressure England openers Cook and Keaton Jennings an unwanted four overs to negotiate.
They got through it relatively comfortably, with Jennings making sure he avoided a pair and lives to fight another day in the innings that will determine his Test future.