England’s Joe Root and Ollie Robinson take a run during the second day of fouth Test match between India and England at JSCA International Stadium Complex on February 24, 2024 in Ranchi.
| Photo Credit: K. R. Deepak
Ollie Robinson gifted away his wicket after making a career-best 58 that resulted in England’s first innings ending at 353 even as Joe Root remained unbeaten on 122 on the second day of the fourth Test against India, here Saturday.
England had made a solid start this morning, making Indians toil hard without success before Robinson’s choice of shot — a reverse sweep — off Ravindra Jadeja brought India back in the opening session.
It ended a dogged 102-run stand between Robinson and Root.
In their reply, India lost skipper Rohit Sharma (2) cheaply to be 34 for one at lunch, trailing England by 319 runs. Veteran James Anderson saw the back of Rohit with a delivery that moved away slightly off the surface after pitching on a perfect length, taking edge from Indian captain’s bat that was taken by Ben Foakes.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (27 batting) was his usual confident self and giving him company was Shubman Gill (4) at the break.
England added 51 valuable runs to their overnight total of 302/7 as the Indian attack failed to make early penetration. The last five England batters added 241 runs after being 112/5 at lunch on the opening day.
While Mohammed Siraj (2/78) erred in his line and length, debutant Akash Deep could not add to his tally of three wickets to return with 3/38 from 19 overs.
For India, Ravindra Jadeja took all the three wickets to return with 4/67 from his 32.5 overs.
Root, who dug in deep with his classical century spanning a little more than six hours, remained stranded on 122 from 274 balls (10×4).
Robinson had a great start to morning when he flicked one away from a wayward Siraj in the first ball of the day for a boundary through fine leg.
There was no stopping him as he looked for every opportunity and took on Akash Deep with three boundaries that took him past his previous career-best Test score of 42.
However a bizarre shot selection ended his gritty knock as he employed a grounded reverse sweep which was not necessary at that moment as Indian bowlers were hardly troubling the visitors.
The ball missed the edge of the bat touched the gloves of Robinson before being grabbed by 23-year-old Dhurv Jurel.
England then fell in a jiffy with Shoaib Bashir swinging his bat to the second ball and skied the ball to be caught at point. Jadeja trapped James Anderson to end England resistance.
Brief Score:
England 1st Innings: Zak Crawley b Akash Deep 42 Ben Duckett c Jurel b Akash Deep 11 Ollie Pope lbw b Akash Deep 0 Joe Root not out 122 Jonny Bairstow lbw b Ashwin 38 Ben Stokes lbw b Jadeja 3 Ben Foakes c Jadeja b Mohammed Siraj 47 Tom Hartley b Mohammed Siraj 13 Ollie Robinson c Jurel b Jadeja 58 Shoaib Bashir c Patidar b Jadeja 0 James Anderson lbw b Jadeja 0 Extras: (B-5, LB-9, NB-5) 19
Total: (All out in 104.5 overs) 353
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-47, 3-57, 4-109, 5-112, 6-225, 7-245, 8-347, 9-349, 10-353
Bowling: Mohammed Siraj 18-3-78-2, Akash Deep 19-0-83-3, Ravindra Jadeja 32.5-7-67-4, Ravichandran Ashwin 22-1-83-1, Kuldeep Yadav 12-4 -22-0, Yashasvi Jaiswal 1-0-6-0.
India 1st Innings: Yashasvi Jaiswal not out 27 Rohit Sharma c Foakes b Anderson 2 Shubman Gill not out 4 Extras: (NB-1) 1
Total: (For 1 wickets in 10 overs) 34
Fall of wickets: 1-4
Bowling: James Anderson 4-1-15-1, Ollie Robinson 5-0-18-0, Shoaib Bashir 1-0-1-0 .