'Excellent' Bashir takes four wickets to put England on top
Spinner Shoaib Bashir took four wickets to lead England's bowling charge and put India on the back foot at 219-7 on day two of the fourth Test on Saturday.
The rookie off-spinner rattled the Indian reply to England's first innings of 353 in a marathon spell of 31 overs unchanged spread over three sessions in Ranchi.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel, on 30, and Kuldeep Yadav, on 17, were batting at the close of play with an unbeaten stand of 42 but India still trail the visitors by 134 runs.
The in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal made 73 but Bashir bowled him after the left-hander attempted to defend a low ball that caught the toe of the bat and crashed into the stumps.
Bashir, who missed the opener due to a visa delay and is playing his second Test, was ably supported by two wickets from fellow spinner Tom Hartley.
Joe Root hit an unbeaten 122 for England, who trail 2-1 and are fighting to stay alive in the five-match series.
But the day belonged to Bashir, who came on to bowl in the ninth over of India's innings and remained unchanged from his end until Root replaced him shortly before stumps.
"I think he's been excellent since he's come into the squad," Root said of the 20-year-old Bashir.
"The way he bowls is a great little insight into his character and personality, he is quite cheeky and great fun to be around," he said.
"There's clearly a huge amount of skill in what he does. To be able to continually put pressure on some very good players of spin, I know the wicket was helpful at times, but he did an amazing job and it's a great sign for English cricket moving forward."
Bashir removed Shubman Gill (38) and Rajat Patidar (17), both out lbw, and then had Ravindra Jadeja caught at short leg to put India in trouble at 131-4 at tea.
"I think they bowled well," India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said of the opposition spinners. "Bashir bowled well. He has just kept it simple and picked up wickets for that."
Mhambrey said Bashir "stuck to his strength, he's not a big spinner, he is a tall guy, keeps his length, and keeps it simple. It's the same for Hartley as well."
- Anderson moves to 697 -
Fast bowler James Anderson struck first to send back India skipper Rohit Sharma, caught for two before lunch, but the left-handed Jaiswal rebuilt the innings in an 82-run stand with Gill.
Jaiswal, who tops the series batting chart with 618 runs, including two match-winning double centuries in the second and third Tests, raised his bat to applause after reaching his fifty.
The 22-year-old hit 171 on debut in the West Indies last year and has since amassed 934 runs over eight Tests and 14 innings.
He survived a close call on 40 when he appeared to edge an Ollie Robinson delivery to Ben Foakes for a caught behind but the third umpire denied England's appeal after many replays.
Anderson moved to 697 Test wickets in the first session after Root ran out of partners and England's innings ended.
The 41-year-old is poised to become only the third bowler to take 700 wickets in Tests, after Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Australian spin wizard Shane Warne (708).
England resumed on 302-7 and Root put on 102 runs with overnight partner Robinson, whose departure on 58 brought a quick end to the innings.
Jadeja returned figures of 4-67 with his left-arm spin and wiped out the tail.
St.Ch.Russell--EWJ
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