RANCHI : AS R Ashwin walked back after watching the DRS review of his dismissal on the big screen of the JSCA International Stadium, his mind would have probably revisited an age-old Tamil slang. Uruturadhu.
To translate loosely, it's under-arm bowling with the ball rolling along the ground. Within the context of the game, the second part of the sentence is applicable. For the record, the visitors didn't consciously use it as a strategy but they understood the nature of the surface and kept chugging away. In the process, they reduced India to 219/7. The hosts still trail by 134 runs.
Both James Anderson and Ollie Robinson started off with tight lines keeping in mind the variable bounce on offer. Ben Stokes, too, played his part as he set two close fielders on the leg-side for Rohit Sharma. Anderson lured him forward and the Indian captain hung his bat outside to hand an outside edge. After a while, Stokes brought on Shoaib Bashir — who would go on to bowl 31 bowlers on the trot — and the lanky off-spinner kept hitting the right areas.
Yashasvi Jasiwal and Shubman Gill showed caution, but just when it seemed like the latter was settling, Bashir found one of the cracks. It turned, beat the inside edge and hit the pads. The No. 3 reviewed but it was Umpire's Call on impact (England got lucky with three Umpire's Call decisions going in their favour on Saturday).
Rajat Patidar, already under pressure to retain his place, was one of those victims. Ravindra Jadeja, who came in ahead of Sarfaraz Khan (a move they did in the last game), tried to counter-attack with two sixes. But he was the next to go as a Bashir delivery jumped a bit extra and surprised the southpaw. A simple bat-pad offering was snaffled by short-leg. Then came the body blow. Jaiswal was set for another ton when a grubber from Bashir caught the toe end of his bat before dislodging the stumps.
Sarfaraz, batting with freedom in the last game, had to grind. He was prepared to do that and had already escaped twice (a run-out and a leg-before) but he was unlucky the third time. Tom Hartley, Bashir's bowling partner for the majority of the afternoon, drew him forward with a delivery that was there to drive. But Sarfaraz only managed an outside edge and Joe Root at first slip completed the catch.
The hosts' problems were compounding quickly. And this is the problem when they play on surfaces where the toss invariably plays a big factor. Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey admitted the variable bounce on offer caught them by surprise. "... we didn’t expect it to be playing that low on the second day itself," he said at the end of the day's play. "I think a couple of balls did keep low in the first innings as well, but that’s what we didn’t expect. We expected it to get slower as the days progress, but not the variable bounce that we’ve seen in the last couple of days. That’s something that we were not expecting."
To be fair to Mhambrey, he said they didn't ask for this kind of surface. "There weren't any instructions that we need a turner," he said. "I don't think it is a turner as of now. It's just the low bounce which is making batting a little difficult."
Minutes after Sarfaraz went, R Ashwin, found out how difficult it was to survive. He came forward to defend a straight Hartley delivery but the shooter him on the ankle. Ashwin reviewed out of hope but an Umpire's Call on hitting the stumps sent him packing. 7/177 in under 56 overs. The one silver lining? You could make a case for saying the batters weren't giving their wickets as they had done in each of the first three Tests. But that will be scant consolation for the hosts who will need Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav to prolong their already unbeaten 42-run stand on the third morning.
What helped the England spinners was the lines and lengths the seamers operated on. Ollie Robinson, despite his lack of pace, and James Anderson gave no width or length to pounce on, constantly dragging the batter forward and back, drying up the runs.
If the inconsistent bounce had its say, credit has to be given to their fields and the lines they bowled through the day. If you go by the scorecard, it would seem like the batters failed, but what it will not say is how tough the conditions were and how much better the bowling was. It was just one of those bad days they would want to forget.
The problem, however, is they still have a huge deficit to overhaul. With batting going to get tougher, this Saturday could lead to further ramifications --- a 2-2 with one Test left to play.