India vs England: James Anderson castles Ajinkya Rahane for a duck with stunning reverse-swinging delivery

India are off to a disastrous start in their pursuit of 420 on day five of the ongoing first Test against England in Chennai. Within an hour of the restart, the hosts lost four huge wickets to find themselves reeling at 110 for 5. Jack Leach gave the visitors the first breakthrough by dismissing Cheteshwar Pujara before James Anderson put India firmly on the backfoot by castling well-set Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane in his very first over in a similar manner.

With the ball reverse-swinging, the England pace spearhead bowled an absolute peach of a delivery to send back Rahane for a two-ball duck. The dismissal came just a couple of balls after Gill was bowled by Anderson for 50. Rahane could have departed on the very first ball he faced as he was rapped on the pad by an incoming delivery.

After England reviewed the decision, the replays showed that the ball was hitting the middle stump. However, Rahane still survived because of umpire’s initial call as the impact was around off-stump. But on the very next delivery, Anderson ruled the umpire’s decision out of the equation by sending Rahane’s off-stump flying.

Anderson bowled a full-length delivery which came in and Rahane had absolutely no answer to it. The right-handed batsman was also beaten by the lack of bounce as the ball went on to disturb his timbers. It was the second failure in a row in the game for Rahane who had managed to score just one run in the first innings.

Here is a clip of Ajinkya Rahane’s dismissal:

James Anderson 🤯 pic.twitter.com/fJFflBYg45

— Cricket’s great moments (@PitchedInLine) February 9, 2021

Anderson with a peach of a delivery to get rid of the well set Gill. Huge wicket for England.#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/g3iiNsHj6L

— ⚡Ashwin⚡ (@ak10_amelia) February 9, 2021

All eyes on Kohli

With five of India’s batsmen back in the hut, the onus is now on skipper Virat Kohli to save the game for the hosts. At the time of writing this report, the Delhi star was battling it out in the middle with the scoreboard reading 110 for 5. Kohli will be looking to score big after his failure in the first innings. The ongoing series is very important for both teams as it is their last chance to book their place in the final of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship.