Watch: In an incredible spell of reverse swing, England seamer James Anderson cleaned up Indian batsmen Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane with identical deliveries during the first Test between the two sides in Chennai.
Bowling on a deteriorating day five surface with a layer of dust on it, the 38-year-old Anderson’s probing spell saw India lose the wicket of opener Gill and Rahane off the second and fifth ball of the 27th over, leaving India at 92-4 in their pursuit of 420.
The first dismissal followed right after Gill brought up a fifty in his third consecutive Test, and looked on course for a substantial contribution to the chase. Bowling with a short mid-on in place, Anderson pitched the ball on length and managed to swerve it just enough to sneak past the gap between Gill’s bat and pad, and send the off-stump cartwheeling.
Three deliveries later, he produced an almost identical delivery to Rahane, India’s vice-captain, getting one to move in and jag past Rahane’s forward defence to take his off-stump along.
Not long after, Anderson also dismissed Rishabh Pant to leave India five down, reaching 611 Test wickets in the process, eight short of Anil Kumble, the third-highest Test wicket-taker’s tally.
You can watch the two dismissals here:
Shubman Gill:
Ajinkya Rahane:
