RANCHI: Debutant Indian fast bowler Akash Deep took three early wickets including Ollie Pope for a duck to leave England in trouble at 112-5 at lunch in the fourth Test on Friday.
Joe Root was batting on 16 after Ravindra Jadeja trapped skipper Ben Stokes lbw for three on the last ball before the break in Ranchi.
Coach Rahul Dravid handed Deep his first Test cap and the debutant’s mother watched on emotionally from the sidelines as he made a scintillating start.
The 27-year-old Deep replaced Jasprit Bumrah, who has been rested, as India’s only change as they look to go 3-1 up in the five-match series.
Deep thought he had got opener Zak Crawley on four only to overstep the crease for a no-ball.
Crawley counter-attacked and hammered Mohammed Siraj for four straight boundaries, including three fours and a six, in the English openers’ attempt to set the pace.
Deep got his first international wicket when Ben Duckett was caught behind for 11 on a delivery that nipped away from the left-hander.
Pope departed two balls later as Deep trapped the batsman lbw, a decision denied by the on-field umpire but successfully reviewed by India after the tracker showed the ball would have hit the top of leg stump.
England back under-fire Joe Root, Bairstow to keep India series alive
Deep then bowled Crawley on another beauty that darted into the opener and rattled the stumps as England slipped to 57-3 in only the first hour of play.
Crawley made a run-a-ball 42 before his departure.
Root and Jonny Bairstow attempted to rebuild in a 57-run partnership that was broken by Ravichandran Ashwin when the off-spinner trapped Bairstow lbw on 38 in another successful Indian review.
England made two changes with Ollie Robinson and Shoaib Bashir coming in for Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed, the latter leaving India due to “personal reasons”.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.