Former England skipper Nasser Hussain showered praise on Ravichandran Ashwin after the veteran spinner scalped a five-wicket haul on the third day’s play at Ranchi. Ashwin returned with figures of 5-51 and bagged his 35th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Moreover, Ashwin received the support from other end as Kuldeep Yadav had 4-22. England lost seven wickets for 35 runs and was skittled out for a meagre score of 145.
Ashwin gave a perfect start to the team as he dismissed Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope on consecutive balls. Furthermore, Ashwin scalped the big wicket of Joe Root, who scored a fine century in the first innings, as he trapped him in front. Moreover, the off-spinner dismissed Ben Foakes and James Anderson to get the job done for India.
In his column for the Daily Mail after play on Day 3, Hussain wrote: “People have been saying Ashwin has had a quiet series, but this game has been a reminder that you don’t keep a great cricketer down. Root proved as much in England’s first innings, and Ashwin underlined the point in their second. You could see the fire in his eyes when Rohit gave him the new ball: he was determined to stamp his class on the series. He even treated us to a carrom ball to get rid of Foakes.”
Hussain lauded Rohit Sharma’s captaincy for opening the innings with Ravichandran Ashwin.
“Rohit Sharma got it spot on when he opened the bowling with Ravichandran Ashwin, after delaying his entry for too long in the first innings at Rajkot. That allowed Duckett, who has struggled against Ashwin, to get off to a flyer, and Rohit wasn’t going to make that mistake again,” wrote Hussain.
Hussain lauded India’s competitive spirit despite the absence of Virat Kohli and gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
“That’s what impresses me about this Indian team. You can have all the talent in the world, but unless you have that deep competitive instinct, that will to win, you risk coming up short. But even without the aggression of Virat Kohli, and the class of Jasprit Bumrah, you can tell how much they wanted it here,” wrote Hussain.
India needs another 127 runs to win the fourth Test with 10 wickets in hand.
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