England’s rookie spinner Shoaib Bashir is not ruling out the team’s win on the penultimate day of the fourth Test match against India at Ranchi. The visitors were in the driver’s seat as they could have taken a lead of more than 150 runs but the hosts were able to reduce the deficit to 46 runs after Dhruv Jurel scored a fine knock of 90 runs.
England was skittled out for 145 runs in the second essay and thus they have given a target of 192 runs to the hosts. Ravichandran Ashwin bagged his 35th five-wicket haul in the red-ball version, returning with impressive figures of 5-51. Furthermore, Kuldeep Yadav also bowled a superb spell as he registered figures of 4-22.
On the other hand, Shoaib Bashir registered his maiden five-wicket haul as he returned with figures of 5-119 and bowled at the top of his game.
Meanwhile, the Ranchi pitch is not easy to bat on and as a batter, one is never settled at the crease and thus Bashir feels they are still in the match even though India needs another 140 runs to win with 10 wickets in hand.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the day’s play, Bashir stated: “Yeah, look, we would have liked to have got one or two wickets in that last period, but me and Harts [Tom Hartley] know we got a job to do tomorrow. Ten opportunities to take ten wickets, and on that wicket anything is possible.”
Bashir hailed England skipper Ben Stokes and the team management for creating the right environment to help him flourish at the top level.
“I used to see these guys when I was a little kid. So to be in that dressing room, they give you so much confidence. Stokesy and the lads are brilliant, even if that’s to go out to bat as well. It just gets the best out of you, and it’s just a wonderful group to be a part of.”
“I just want to dedicate this to my two late granddads who passed away a year and a bit ago. They used to watch Test cricket all the time on TV, sitting in front of the TV on the couch. And their wish was to watch me play, and that didn’t happen. So yeah, it was quite emotional, but I’m grateful.”
India is currently in a dominating position and England will need quick wickets on Monday to stay alive in the contest.
