Three-and-a-half days into this inaugural Test match in Rajkot, the pitch finally spit out a cobra that caught home boy and India No 9 Ravindra Jadeja by surprise. Adil Rashid’s leg-spinning delivery pitched on the left-hander’s off stump-line on a good length and bounced much higher than Jadeja would have expected it to, as it hit the shoulder of his bat and popped up into the air. Haseeb Hameed at short leg made no mistake, as India were reduced to 449/8.
England would have hoped the cobra had made an appearance at least a day earlier, when Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay were making merry. The chances of an England win, even after India were eventually bowled out for 488, 49 runs short of the visitors’ total, are still minuscule. With four sessions to go and both teams yet to bat again, this match will be drawn unless both captains agree to playing a 60-over match.
Even if that does not happen, it does not mean there will be no entertainment in the next four sessions. With the pitch opening up, India’s three spinners will come into play a lot more than they did in the first innings. England’s batsmen would then face their first real challenge and perhaps be a precursor to what they can expect in Vizag, where the ball usually turns square, for the second Test.
One of those spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, took India to a position of safety in the post-lunch session with a composed half-century with the bat. He had come in to bat at 349/5, when India’s deficit was still a substantial 188. He lost his captain, Virat Kohli, soon after as the score became 361/6, with only the lower order left. It wasn’t anything new for Ashwin: he has batted with the tail on numerous occasions and knows what to do. Luckily, he found support in Wriddhiman Saha (35) and some from Jadeja, as he slowly knocked the runs off India’s deficit.
Ashwin’s batting was smart and simple: attack the lose deliveries and respect the good ones. He did not take any unnecessary risks when Rashid and Co were starting to get purchase off the surface. As he took India to 488, just 49 runs short of England, it was a job well done. He was hit for 167 runs in 46 overs and got just two wickets for his efforts. This innings of 70 with the bat would have given him his confidence back and got him raring to go with the ball.
Brief score:
England 537 (Ben Stokes 128, Joe Root 124, Moeen Ali 117; Ravindra Jadeja 3/86, Mohammed Shami 2/65, R Ashwin 2/167) lead India 488 (Murali Vijay 126, Cheteshwar Pujara 124; Adil Rashid 4/114, Zafar Ansari 2/77, Moeen Ali 2/85) by 49 runs.