There is an old saying that says, “Cricket is not an individual sport; it’s a team game.” This old saying was proven by Team India in the ongoing fourth match of the test series against England.
Team India and England were up for a fierce battle on the wicket of Ranchi; however, team India looked a depleted side with their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah resting for the fourth test match of the series.
England won the toss and elected to bat first, which was a perfect decision after all, the test is being played in the subcontinent.
However, in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah Begal pacer, Aakashdeep rose to the occasion and rattled England’s top order, along with Ashwin and Jadeja, reducing the visitors to 112/5.
Now with half a side already back in the dugout, it was a daunting task for England to get something substantial to at least fight against team India, but England’s stalwart Joe Root rose to the occasion and smashed a phenomenal hundred. He, along with England’s wicketkeeper Ben Fokes, helped England recover from an early setback.
After Ben Fokes got dismissed, Joe Root found another able partner in the form of Ollie Robinson to take England’s total above 300. From 112/5 to 353/10, it was Joe Root (122*) along with the lower order of England who put the team in commanding position in the Ranchi test.
After the England innings got over,team India were given a huge blow at the start of the innings, with James Anderson dismissing Skipper Rohit Sharma with just 4 runs on the board.
Later on, team India’s in-form duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubhman Gill added 82 runs for the second wicket before Gill threw his another start as he was dismissed for 38.
After Shubhman Gill’s departure, India’s middle order crumbled miserably against the Indian spinners, as Rajat Patidar (17), Ravindra Jadeja (12), and Sarfraz Khan (14) were dismissed without doing much, and the hosts were in a peculiar situation, losing five wickets with just 160 odd runs on the board.
The situation got worse when Ravi Ashwin was also dismissed, reducing the hosts to 177/7.
With a mountain to climb, India’s young wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel made the most of the opportunity in his debut series as the youngster scored a fantabulous 90, which included six boundaries and four towering sixes.
One of the major highlights of the Dhurv Jurel innings was that, in spite of having such big names in the opposition, the wicketkeeper did not hesitate to play his shots.
Keeping the low bounce of the wicket in mind, the batter tried to play with the straight bat, hitting all the sixes in front of the wicket.
Jurel, along with Kuldeep Yadav (28), added 76 runs to bail India out of trouble.
Later on, Jurel added another 40 runs along with tailender Aakashdeep (9) to show his maturity and potential to bat under pressure.
It was Jurel who helped India reach 307/10 from 177/7.
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After getting a lead of 46 runs, England wanted to put a consecutive score on the board to show fightback against India.
But this time, Kuldeep Yadav, the bowler, rattled through England’s batting line-up, picking up four wickets upfront. He, along with Ashwin, picked up nine wickets to bundle the opposition at just 145.
It was a team effort from India, as many of the players rose on occasions when the team needed them the most. As the greats of the game say, “In test matches, batsmen or bowlers can win a session, but it’s the team that wins matches.”
