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India vs England: With 53.1 overs, R Ashwin bowls his longest in a Test inning
India vs England: India's premier off-spinner bowled 55.1 overs, the most he's bowled in an innings of a Test match.
It was after a long time that India had to toil hard with the ball in a single inning of a Test match. The home team was kept on the field for more than 190 overs as England batted their way to a strong first-innings total of 578 on Day 3 of the first Test in Chennai. Being on the field for more than six sessions took a toll on India's bowlers, with most of them bowling extended spells hoping to break partnerships.
Also Read: Live Updates, Ind vs Eng, 1st Test, Day 3
Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem bowled 44 overs, while Jasprit Bumrah tried for 36 overs. However, it was R Ashwin who did the bulk of the bowling. India's premier off-spinner bowled 55.1 overs, which was the most he has bowled in an innings of a Test match. Before this, the most Ashwin had bowled in a single inning was 53 overs – against Australia in Adelaide during the 2011/12 tour. This was the fifth occasion of Ashwin bowling more than 52 overs in a Test inning.
Ashwin finished with 3/146, including the wickets of Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and No. 11 batsman James Anderson. The off-spinner had Burns out reverse sweeping for India's first wicket on Day 1, followed by the wicket of Pope, out LBW to a straighter one on the second day. His final wicket came on Day 3, with Anderson trying to slog sweep Ashwin and getting castled by the off-spinner.
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Besides, another record England achieved was that of playing out the longest first-innings total in Test cricket, since South Africa's 510/9 decl against India in 2005 in Kanpur. Back then, South Africa batted for 190.4 overs even though the match ended in a draw.
In response, India reached 59/2 at lunch, trailing England by 519 runs at the break. Jofra Archer ran in with plenty of steam and pace, first removing Rohit Sharma out caught behind cheaply and then Shubman Gill out caught.
Gill was looking exquisite with his timing as usual, having cracked five lovely fours, but an uppish on-drive, which the batsman failed to keep down, went to mid-on, where 38-year-old James Anderson took a fabulous catch diving low. Cheteshwar Pujara stuck three fours to get to 20 off 35 balls.
