Spinners put India on verge of victory after ‘Kohli Show’
13 Dec 2016 4:21 AM IST
India put themseleves on the cusp of completing a comprehensive series victory with England caught in a spin web following skipper Virat Kohli’s career-best 235 at the end of the fourth day of the fourth cricket Test.
Records tumbled one after another as Kohli’s third double ton in as many Test series was complemented by Jayant Yadav’s maiden hundred with India piling up a mammoth 631 there by taking a lead of 231 runs.
In reply, England were left tottering at 182 for 6 needing another 49 runs to avoid innings defeat as the hosts are now all but assured to regain the Anthony De Mello Trophy that they had lost back in 2012.
Ravichandran Ashwin (2/49), Ravindra Jadeja (2/58) and Jayant Yadav (1/39) shared five of the six wickets. The other wicket-taker was Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/11), who removed first innings centurion Keaton Jennings (0).
It was a day of records with Jayant being the first Indian to score a Test hundred at No 9 and 241 runs added for the eighth wicket between Jayant and Kohli literally put England out of the game.
With Indian spinners proving to be much superior in quality than their English counterparts, it will be a matter of time before the home team take series clinching lead going into Chennai for the fourth Test.
Jonny Bairstow was the not out batsman for England, on 50, after Jake Ball departed in the final over of the day.
Skipper Kohli yet again proved why he is among the top three batsmen in world cricket. The India captain struck 25 fours and one six in his monumental eight-and-a-half hour innings while he faced 340 deliveries.
With an able ally in Jayant, Kohli dictated terms for the second successive hitting boundaries on both sides of the wicket. With each run that the duo scored, England players were frustrated a degree more.
Kohli-Jayant duo also eclipsed the previous highest eighth-wicket partnership of 168 between the two countries standing in the name of England’s Ray Illingworth and Peter Lever at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1971.
The partnership was finally broken at 605 after the duo had come close to bettering the century-old all-time best eighth-wicket of 243 between Australia’s M J Hartigan and C Hill of Australia set in 1908.
Yadav was stumped charging at leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who later finished with 4 for 192 after a marathon stint of 55.3 overs.
Kohli, who had already started chancing his arm in order to get quick runs, finally departed 10 runs later when he holed out to deep extra cover fielder James Anderson to give Chris Woakes his only wicket of the innings.
He was congratulated by the England fielders after his marathon effort that has virtually won the series for his team ahead of the Chennai game.
Among the other records broken, Kohli eclipsed predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose 224 against Australia at Chennai in 2013, was the previous best score by an Indian captain.
Their partnership of 241, that consumed 244 minutes and 352 balls, obliterated India’s previous best for the wicket of 161 set by Mohammed Azhauddin and Anil Kumble, the current head coach, in 1996-97 against South Africa at Kolkata.
The home team were dismissed 48 minutes into the second session and England with only a draw to play plunged into deep trouble to be 49 for three at tea before being revived by a fourth wicket partnership of 92 runs between Joe Root (77) and Bairstow.
The dismissal of Root, who looked in good touch till he was trapped on the backfoot by Jayant, followed by Ben Stokes (18) and Ball (2) in the last session has left the visitors with a very difficult chance to save the penultimate game of the series. Captain Alastair Cook (18) and Moeen Ali (0) were also dismissed cheaply.
Post tea, England were in total shambles as Jayant sent back danger man Root while Ravichandran Ashwin, after changing ends, dismissed Stokes 13 minutes before close, caught off a reverse sweep, and then added the scalp of Ball, who was caught behind.
India wasted both their reviews off appeals against the England wicket-keeper batsman.
I am happy to continue batting at No. 9: Jayant
After becoming the first number nine Indian batsman to score a Test hundred, rookie Jayant Yadav said he always had been a handy batsman at the domestic level.
“I have always been a handy batsman, ever since started playing in junior cricket. But as I came up the ranks, I always wanted to build this side of my game and my Ranji Trophy team really helped me do it,” said Yadav after making a superb 104 and, more crucially, adding a record 241 runs for the eighth wicket with skipper Virat Kohli who made a magnificent 235, on day four of the fourth Test against England.
“Even though I was batting down, I had responsibility. So taking that responsibility, you really grow as an all-rounder player, I would say a holistic development of a player,” said the 26-year-old Delhi-born player who plays for the neighbouring Haryana in the Ranji Trophy.
“I scored my double hundred at No. 9, I scored my first Test hundred at No. 9, I am happy at No. 9,” added the three-Test old player, referring to his double century against Karnataka at Hubballi three seasons ago.
Yadav said his first goal when he came on to bat on Sunday morning with Kohli was to get to his second half century in Tests.
“To be very honest, when I came out to bat in the morning, I was just vying for the fifty because I was just 20 runs short. I just went with the flow and things just kept happening,” he said.
Yadav, who hit 15 fours in his 244-ball essay, was the more aggressive batsman in the first hour of play in which India rattled along at a furious pace by adding 78 runs in 16 overs.
However, he said it was possible as the Englishmen had kept a defensive field for his captain.
“I think we have to take into account the context of the game. They were attacking me more and they had very defensive fields against Virat, so that gave me an opportunity to put away the bad balls and that is what I did,” he said.
Pitches have taken Kohli’s glitches out of equation, says Anderson
Virat Kohli may be going through a purple patch of his international career but England fast bowler Jimmy Anderson took a slight dig saying that if Indian captain’s technical glitches if any aren’t visible because of the helpful Indian tracks which lacks pace and movement.
Asked what has changed in Kohli’s technique, the seasoned Anderson’s answer wasn’t a charitable one. “I am not sure if he (Kohli) has changed. I just think any technical deficiencies he has got are not in play out here. The wickets just take that out of the equation. There is not that pace in the wicket to get the nicks, like we did against him in England with a bit more movement,” said England’s highest ever wicket-taker in Test matches. “When that (pace and movement) is not there, he (Kohli) is very much suited to playing in these conditions.”
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