England spinner dominated Day 2 of the fourth Test match against India to get ahead in the game on Saturday, February 24. Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley utilised playing conditions better on Ranchi's cracked-up surface to rattle India to 219/7 before stumps.
Day 1's star Joe Root remained unbeaten on 122 off 274 as England's first innings collapsed on 353, adding 51 runs on Day 2. Ravindra Jadeja picked all three wickets for India before lunch to put India in a driving seat going into the first innings.
But England quickly balanced the game with Rohit Sharma's early wicket before lunch. James Anderson dismissed the Indian captain on just two runs in the third over but the visiting side failed to build up momentum.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill added 82 runs for the second wicket to get India back in the driving seat with the former scoring another brilliant fifty. England bounced back through Bashir who dismissed Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar and Rajat Patidar in quick succession before lunch.
Bashir then gave England complete control of the game by bowling out Yashasvi Jaiswal early in the third session. Tom Hartley then delivered a double blow to India's collapse by removing Sarfaraz Khan and Ravichandran Ashwin as India stumbled to 177/7 in 55.2 overs.
However, India managed to go past 200 with Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav adding unbeaten 42 runs for the eighth wicket before the umpire called stumps. India are still trailing by 134 runs in their first innings as England took control seeking to level the series to 2-2.
India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
England Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson
