05 February,2024 07:10 AM IST | Visakhapatnam | R Kaushik
India players celebrate England captain Ben Stokes’s dismissal on Day Four of the second Test in Visakhapatnam yesterday. Pics/PTI
It was in the fitness of things that Jasprit Bumrah completed the demolition job he had started in the first innings. England's brave assault on a fourth-innings target of 399 ended 106 runs short at the ACA-VDCA Stadium on the fourth afternoon, India drawing level in style, but it wasn't all smooth sailing.
India would not have been under any illusions when England began Day Four on 67 for one. Any lingering doubts about England's approach had been dispelled in the 14 overs to stumps on the third evening. Extending their attacking designs structured around proper if unorthodox cricketing strokes, England stayed in the contest for long stretches on Monday, but eventually ran out of steam as India found an answer to every question.
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Like in the first innings, Zak Crawley was England's driving force with a second successive 70-plus score, Ollie Pope began like a house on fire, Jonny Bairstow played his strokes freely, and Ben Foakes and Tom Hartley realised the highest stand of the innings, for the eighth wicket, to put the pitch in perspective. But whenever India hit a roadblock, a slice of inspiration came to their rescue.
India pacer Jasprit Bumrah with his Player of the Match trophy in Visakhapatnam yesterday
Skipper Rohit Sharma plucked a sensational catch at slip to pack off Pope off R Ashwin after Axar Patel had ended nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed's entertaining cameo. Joe Root then played a crude hoick that ended up in point's hands, giving Ashwin his 499th Test scalp, though he will wait at least until Rajkot to join his idol Anil Kumble in the 500-wicket club. Bumrah, who beat Crawley's outside edge repeatedly in the morning, struck in the last over before lunch, trapping Jonny Bairstow in front, but it was Kuldeep Yadav's dismissal of Crawley in the previous over that truly settled India's nerves.
Kuldeep delivers
Quick on his feet and driving exceptionally down the ground, Crawley could single-handedly have muscled England home. Kuldeep, not brought on until the day's 28th over, pushed him back with a slider and won a leg before decision on review after finding no joy from Marais Erasmus, who has the reputation of being a not-outer. For all their bravado, England had lost five for 127 in the morning session.
Not long after lunch, Shreyas Iyer produced a brilliant pick-up-and-throw on the run from mid-wicket to catch a dozy Ben Stokes short of his crease, the England skipper paying a heavy price for his lethargy. Iyer had a middling game with the bat but played his part in the win - remember his excellent catch in the first dig to halt the marauding Crawley?
Foakes and Hartley batted untroubled whilst adding 55, forcing Rohit to return to Bumrah. In his first over back, he deceived the former with a slower one, having him caught and bowled. Twenty minutes later, it was all over, the Player of the Match flattening Hartley's middle-stump to finish with a match haul of nine for 91. Magnificent!
Brief scores
India 396 & 255 (S Gill 104, A Patel 45; T Hartley 4-77, R Ahmed 3-88, J Anderson 2-29) beat England 253 & 292 (Z Crawley 73, B Foakes 36, T Hartley 36; J Bumrah 3-46, R Ashwin 3-72) by 106 runs
