India’s spinners continue to dominate as the hosts take control on day one

Axar Patel stars with the ball again as England slump from 74-2 to 112 all out on the opening day of the Third Test.

Axar Patel continued his fine start to Test cricket. Credit: BCCI

The left-arm spinner took figures of 6-38 as England’s batting woes against spin continue. Joe Root’s men fought back in the final session to leave India 99-3 at close, but Rohit Sharma remains at the crease on 57 not out with his side trailing by just 13 runs on an absorbing day of Test cricket in which 13 wickets fell.

England made four changes from the damaging second Test defeat in Chennai with Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Jofra Archer and James Anderson replacing Rory Burns, Dan Lawrence, Moeen Ali and Olly Stone. Whilst many fans will have been pleased to see the return of England’s most successful opening bowling partnership, eyebrows will have been raised at the inclusion of just one spinner in Jack Leach, with the hope that the pink ball would offer more for England’s strengths in the swing bowling department.

However, the hosts continued with their spin-heavy attack of Ravi Ashwin, Patel and Washington Sundar, despite India’s spinners failing to take a wicket in their last day-night Test at home.

Anderson and Broad were reunited, but would England regret not playing another spinner? Credit: Sky Sports

In the largest cricket stadium in the world with a capacity of 132,000, Joe Root won the toss and decided to bat in Ahmedabad, a decision shared by his opposite number Virat Kohli. Unlike in Chennai, India opened with seam from both ends and early indications showed signs of swing for both Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. It took only 15 balls for the first breakthrough as Ishant, playing in his 100th Test, found both movement off the surface and the edge of Dom Sibley to second slip for no score, a dismissal perhaps more typical of English conditions.

Nevertheless, England’s top order problems continue to mount, with the opening stand averaging less than 12 in 13 innings since the Pakistan home series last summer, with the score passing 25 without loss on just the one occasion in that time.

Ishant Sharma was given a guard of honour by his teammates ahead of his 100th Test appearance. Credit: ICC

However, Crawley on his return from injury impressed with a fluent knock which included four impressive front foot boundaries on both the off and on-side within the space of two overs. At the other end though, Bairstow, also on his return to the Test side, failed to get off the mark as he was trapped LBW to the first ball of spin in the match from Patel.

Once again England were left to rely on captain Joe Root for a mammoth innings, alongside Crawley who continued to find the boundary with ease as the pair started to rebuild. Whilst Axar managed to get a few deliveries to turn big, on the whole the pitch was not offering too much for the spinners, with Root almost falling victim to balls with no turn, suggesting perhaps mental scares of the previous Test playing on the minds of the English batsmen.

Zak Crawley’s half century provided the only positive for England with the bat. Credit: ESPNcricinfo

Crawley, who was opening the batting rather than in his preferred position at number three, brought up his half century off just 68 balls with his tenth boundary, before surviving an LBW decision on review. However, just moments later, Root did fall on review LBW to Ashwin for 17, one of a number of tight decisions to go against the England on umpire’s call.

The loss of the captain proved to be a catalyst for an England collapse as the seven remaining wickets fell for just 38 runs. India’s spinners of Axar and Ashwin bowled for a sustained period of time and ran through England’s middle and lower order with another impressive display of consistency and sustained pressure.

Crawley was dismissed for 53, once again falling LBW to Axar on a ball that went straight on, with Ollie Pope following soon after as the Surrey man was cleaned up by Ashwin. In what was turning out to be a procession, England slipped to 81-6 as Ben Stokes was removed LBW on the back foot to Axar, with the English batsmen continuing to play for non-existent turn. Suddenly England’s long tail became exposed with Jofra Archer coming out to bat at number eight.

After dispatching a couple of deliveries to the boundary, Archer was soon on his way back to the changing room, with a quicker delivery from Axar crashing into his off stump. Jack Leach edged to Kohli off the bowling of Ashwin to leave England 98-8, before Stuart Broad picked out deep square leg off a top edge as Axar claimed his fifth victim.

Ravi Ashwin got the key wicket of the England captain. Credit: BCCI

Ben Foakes offered some resistance for his 12 runs off 58 balls, before Axar dismantled his stumps with another quicker ball as the England keeper attempted to play a cut shot that was far too close to his body. Despite winning the toss, England were bowled out for just 112, with nine wickets falling to spin, including six for Patel following on from his maiden five-wicket haul on his Test debut in Chennai.

This was the lowest of four consecutive totals below 200 for England in India, although this time no blame can be attached to the pitch, rather a combination of good Indian bowling and some woeful English batting that lacked any application to the conditions. Over 200 dot balls were bowled in just shy of 50 overs, highlighting England’s inability to rotate the strike and put pressure back on the Indian bowlers.

Ben Foakes was the last man out for England. Credit: England Cricket 

Crawley aside, the one positive England could take from their disappointingly short innings was that they would be bowling in the twilight period under the lights with the pink ball. James Anderson and Stuart Broad kept things tight before the break, with Joe Root and his men furious that a Ben Stokes slip catch was overturned on review off the bowling of Broad. After the break, Shubman Gill survived another close decision as an LBW review deemed umpire’s call in the batsmen’s favour.

For a while though in the night sky, Sharma and Gill appeared comfortable at the crease as the pair patiently went about their business. It was the introduction of paceman Jofra Archer that brought about the breakthrough for England, drawing youngster Gill into a rare poor shot. Just six balls later, Jack Leach dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara LBW without scoring as England perhaps sensed an opportunity to get back into the game. The ball skidding on proved to be the downfall for the majority of batsman on day one and Leach thought he had Rohit in similar fashion, only for the ball going onto bounce over the stumps on review from the Indian batsman.

Rohit Sharma eased his way to a half century. Credit: BCCI

Kohli joined Rohit at the crease and the pair began to put the England bowlers under pressure by moving the score on at a decent rate as India closed in on England’s total. Rohit racked up another effortless half century as the opener continued his impressive series, looking head and shoulders above any other batsman on display. James Anderson was brought back into the attack to no avail with little swing on offer under the lights, though he did manage to prise open a rare opportunity, only for Pope to drop a fairly routine catch at gully to remove Kohli.

Leach claimed the two key wickets of Pujara and Kohli to give England hope. Credit: England Cricket

However, the Indian captain was unable to see out the day, inside edging Leach onto his stumps for 27 to give England a much needed wicket in the final over of the day. Ajinkya Rahane survived the remaining three deliveries as India closed on 99-3, just 13 runs behind England’s first innings, already leaving Joe Root’s men a mountain to climb to save the Test match. Joe Root’s frustration with the match situation boiled over in the direction of the umpires, with only one angle being used on review of a close stumping in favour of Rohit, in comparison to the multiple deployed earlier in the day to confirm Leach’s dismissal.

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