Ashwin, Kuldeep spin a web around England

Set a victory target of 192, India reached 40 for no loss at stumps on the third day of the fourth Test against England here on Sunday. India will take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series if they knock off the required 152 runs on Monday. At close of play, skipper Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were batting on 24 and 16 respectively. Senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (5/51) and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (4/22) shared nine wickets between them to run through the England line-up in their second innings on a pitch offering the slow bowlers enough help. England were bowled out for 145 in their second essay. Before the Ashwin-Kuldeep duo got down to bamboozle England with their turn, bounce and guile, young wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel showed tremendous game awareness on way to a fine 90-run knock. Jurel added 76 runs for the eighth wicket with Kuldeep (28) to lift India from a tricky 177/7 and then another 40 runs with Akash Deep to help his side close in on 300. India’s first innings ended at 307, giving the visitors a lead of 46 runs. Opening the bowling for just the second time this series, Ashwin dented England’s top order with the wickets of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root and then came back to clean up the tail. “So actually I had to go back and rewire the way I had to think about the game,” Ashwin told the host broadcaster after the third day. “I am someone who comes over the top, comes down on the ball. I like the ball to drop on the pitch. “Somehow when I come to the eastern part of the country, I find that there is not enough bite out of the surface. The bounce is literally almost near the shin height, if I can say that. “So I had to really go a lot of side spin. I had to hammer into the pitch for the first part of the spell,” Ashwin said. “And later from the other side, I felt like there was a little bit more purchase.