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After being handed a humongous target of 608 to chase down on Day 4 by India, England came out to bat for the final 16 overs of the day. However, it wasn't a pleasant start for the hosts to say the least as Mohammed Siraj managed to get the wicket of Zak Crawley for a duck in the second over. Akash Deep would then send Ben Duckett back to the dugout in the fifth over as England lost another big wicket during the final few overs of the day.
A controversy erupted following Root's dismissal
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts when Akash Deep managed to get the massive wicket of Joe Root for just six runs, restricting the opposition to 50/3. However, a controversy would break out soon when former England cricketer Alison Mitchell, who was doing commentary for the BBC, pointed out that Akash Deep's back-foot was touching the return crease.
"The delivery from Akash Deep - which we said was wide off the crease - his foot on the back crease is out. Looks like by about two inches. Maybe a little bit more. But comfortably. So his back foot, which needs to land within the line, just taps about two inches over the line. Not picked up!" Mitchell said on commentary.
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Former India cricketer Saba Karim gave his opinion on the dismissal and stated that 'Akash Deep cheated Root'. He pointed out that when a delivery is bowled from wide of the crease, the batter expects it to angle in, but that didn't quite end up happening in Root's case.
"Akash Deep was talking about feeling cheated by the wicket as it was like an Indian wicket, but here he cheated Joe Root. When you are angling the ball in from wide of the crease, the batter is forced to think that the ball will come in only from that angle," Karim said on Sony Sports.
"If the ball straightens after pitching, what can the batter do? If you bowl such a ball to a great batter, it was definitely an unplayable delivery. Not only Joe Root, but 99.9 percent of the batters would have played like that towards the onside. Joe Root also tried that, and Akash Deep literally opened up Joe Root," he added.
Meanwhile, following the wicket of Root, the duo of Ollie Pope and Harry Brook formed a stand of 22 runs to provide some much-needed stability to the side and ensure that they didn't lose any more wickets by the end of day's play. The parftnership saw the hosts finish the day on 72/3, ending up a total of 536 runs behind the given target.
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