Whether it was Pindi’s metamorphosed pitch, Pune’s black soil track, or Mirpur’s fourth innings surface–all showered their love generously onto the spinners today. The sun rose in the sub-continent with three Test games waiting to get started. One of these Test games where Bangladesh, playing South Africa, were hoping against hope to stay in the hunt on the penultimate day. The track was not essentially a rank-turner but had worn down to act like one after three days of play. Taijul Islam was lucky to find three scalps to add to his five-for from the first inning. He was the first of all the spinners to get his reward on the day, though the result did not end in his team’s favor.
There were reports that Pakistan had moved mountains to turn a flat, docile Pindi pitch into a track which turned the first ball bowled on it immensely. It was a Sajid Khan delivery that spun magically, evading the bat, pad, and the keeper. Although the surface was slow, so much so that it bred speculations that the ICC might hand this pitch some more demerit points, the spin it offered was almost diabolical. It was not until the 43rd over that the Sajid-Noman spin duo was given a reprieve from bowling in tandem by handing the ball to Zahid Mehmood.
The pitch changed its mood for a bit and Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith made the most of that phase, silencing some of the demerit-points-talks in the process. Zahid Mehmood and Sajid Khan had to endure the brunt of their wrath. But it was not a day for late-order partnerships, it was a day for spinners. And so they made a comeback soon enough. Zahid Mehmood got the best of Jamie Smith, who was nearing his century. This prompted Sajid Khan to complete his five-wicket haul for the second time in this series.
Just some 1700 km East of where the Pakistani spin trio shared 10 wickets between them, India, too, were relishing the turn Pune was offering. Washington Sundar was a surprise inclusion in the Indian lineup, and boy did he make sure he gave the opposition the same surprise. It may be his batting skills that got him a place instead of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel but by taking seven Kiwis wickets, five of which came after the tea break, he showed that he is ready to take on the spin duties full-time for his team when the time comes. He finished the inning with a career-best figure of 7-59. Ashwin weaved his similar magic and took three wickets, also surpassing Nathan Lyon as the highest-wicket taker in the World Test Championship history.
Across these three Test games on this day, only two wickets fell to pacers. The first was Tim Southee, who sent Rohit Sharma back to the hut in the second innings, while the second was Kamran Ghulam’s wicket off a Gus Atkinson delivery. There is still plenty in the surface for the tweakers to capitalize on for the next few days. India, unlike Pakistan, did not select only one pacer, but so far, their bowling attack looks adept at adjusting to the conditions.
