Tea Afghanistan 152 (Rahmat 60, Suthar 6-33, Prasidh 3-37) and 98 for 5 follow on (Atal 42, Sundar 3-30) trail India 564 for 8 dec (Gill 126, Rahul 100, Saleem 6-140) by 314 runs
At the other end, however, Atal’s partners were dismissed going for much rasher shots. Siraj had already prised out his opening partner, Abdul Malik, after a patient 40-ball 8 by getting a delivery to jag into his pads. Then, Rahmanullah Gurbaz swiped Kuldeep Yadav across the line in a rush of blood. Gurbaz mistimed the ball straight to long-on. The wicket came against the run of play, with him already on 24 off 23, bossing a tiring India spin attack in the blistering heat of New Chandigarh.
Suthar, however, got the ball to grip and turn right away in the morning, keeping to speeds of 90 kph throughout the day. In Afghanistan’s first innings, he plucked out Sharafuddin Ashraf, spinning one past him, then accounted for Rahmat’s crucial wicket in the first innings too.
Rahmat had brought up a stoic half-century off 100 balls in the first innings. However, Suthar – on a three-for overnight – bowled him around his legs while Rahmat attempted an expansive sweep.
He was the eighth wicket to fall, and gave Suthar his fifth wicket of the innings. A while later, he pinned Mohammad Saleem on the pads for his sixth. This last dismissal was the latest in a line of bad reviews (or lack thereof) from either side throughout the day. Suthar had pitched the delivery outside leg but for some reason, Saleem did not review the decision. He was animated at the dugout as he walked back.
Earlier in the day, the tall Prasidh Krishna stuck to back-of-a-length deliveries, utilising the angles off the pitch to create jeopardy for the batters. Rahmat was stoic as he left deliveries too far outside off, but the new batter Azmatullah Omarzai fell victim to him wafting at a delivery wide outside off.
Omarzai had left a yawning gap between bat and ball. Prasidh got the ball to jag back in, catch the inside edge, and send back Omarzai.
Siraj came on for a spell of three overs, for five runs, the highlight of which was when he reviewed a clear inside-edge into the pads for an lbw. Soon, Washington came on from his end, and Kuldeep from the other, bowling in tandem. Kuldeep hesitated to put revs on the ball and for a period, both bowlers looked innocuous in comparison to Suthar.
However, Ashraf visibly struggled to bat with a groin injury. Kuldeep began lobbing up balls that Ashraf needed to step out to deadbat. Suthar returned to take advantage of his limited reach, and had him edging behind.
Washington also picked up the final wicket of Afghanistan’s first innings, when he had Ziaur Rahman going for a huge swipe across the line. Pant ran in to complete a catch. When they came out to bat again, four overs remaining before lunch, Atal hit Suthar for 6 and 4. At the other end after resumption, his partners fell for misjudged attacking shots time and again. Eventually, he too succumbed to a similar impulse, leaving Afghanistan on the brink of a big innings defeat.
Abhijato Sensarma is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
