England piled up more than 540 runs at stumps on day three.
As England piled up runs in the first innings of the ongoing fourth Test against India, ex-India spinner R Ashwin took a huge shot at the Indian team management for not playing Kuldeep Yadav. India, who scored 358 runs in their first innings, have been dwarfed by England, who ended day 3 on 544/7.
Joe Root starred with 150 runs, while openers Zak Crawley (84) and Ben Duckett (94) made merry as well. Even Captain Ben Stokes hammered a half-century as England went to stumps on 544/7.
With the Indian team management once again turning a blind eye to leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the Test series, former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin lamented the team's decisions, stating he is 'a little delighted that Kuldeep Yadav did not play.'
“In a way, I am a little happy that Kuldeep Yadav did not play, and it’s good. Because you had five bowlers, including two spinners, and Washington Sundar has been brought to bowl in the 68th over. Kuldeep could have bowled after the second new ball. So it could be possible that he could not find the ball. I mean, he probably could have gotten the ball in his hand. So I felt all those things were a little amusing,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, Ash ki Baat.
Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja would bowl ten overs between them, with India not picking the new ball after the 80th over, and then skipper Gill chose the new ball in the 90th over, with Mohammad Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah bowling with it.
According to Ashwin, Sundar might have bowled with the new ball on the Manchester wicket as well.
“Because he has two wickets with the old ball. And there was a very good opportunity to bowl with him with the new ball on this wicket. Because the overspin ball was turning. Like Jadeja’s overspin, it was turning, especially the way he got the wicket of Joe Root. One thing that I really liked about Jadeja was that he was bowling from close to the stumps, and his arm was coming right from near his ear. So, it means it’s coming from a really upright position, and you will get overspin. So every ball that has spun over the top has bounced and has given a bit of turn,” Ashwin added.
With the surface promising to turn, Ashwin believes England off-spinner Liam Dawson would play an important part in India's second innings. The former Indian spinner also lauded Dawson, who was removed for 26 runs on Day 4.
“I was saying earlier that if England bats long, Liam Dawson could be a real danger man in the third innings of this Test match. His batting also looked so solid. I just feel he has a role to play in this Test match, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Dawson extracts much more out of this surface than we did,” Ashwin said.