New Delhi: Root has become the first England skipper since Bob Willis in 1983 to take a Test fifer and his figures of 5/8 from 6.2 overs reminded many of the spell from former Australia batsman Michael Clarke.
Team India bundled out on 145 on Day 2 of the third test match against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Resuming their innings on the overnight score of 99/3, the England spinners Jack Leach and skipper Joe Root wreaked the bails out of the Indian middle-order for just 46 runs in the first session.
Tea in Ahmedabad ☕
England take seven wickets for 46 runs in the first session to bowl India out for 145 ?
Joe Root gets his first five-wicket haul in Tests!#INDvENG ➡️ https://t.co/0unCGUOHmI pic.twitter.com/svXq65HrPF
— ICC (@ICC) February 25, 2021
Coming back to the third Test, the end of the Indian innings saw the umpires call for early Tea. If it was Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin who spun a web over the English batsmen on the opening day, it was the turn of Root and Jack Leach to do the same on Thursday as they picked nine wickets among them .
While Root picked a fifer, Leach finished with figures of 4/54 from his 20 overs as Rohit Sharma (66) was the best batsman on display for the hosts.
Rootalitharan ?
Scorecard: https://t.co/sW4HoJPPZs#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/JhILFD3GvA
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 25, 2021
The rest had no answer to Root and Leach on a wicket that was turning square at times on the second afternoon. Interestingly though, the ball that didn’t turn caused much damage on the first two days as the batsmen have found it tough to adapt to the skidding pink ball.
Starting the day on 99/3, Rohit did not have Ajinkya Rahane’s company for long as India’s Test deputy was out for 7 minutes after passing England’s first innings total. His lack of consistency will be a concern for the team management.
While Leach got the ball to skid onto Rahane and the batsman faltered by going back to a full ball, Rohit was the next to go as he missed a sweep off the left-arm spinner.
