How Mohammed Shami set up Joe Root

The first three balls of the over in which Joe Root got dismissed highlighted the importance of using the crease appropriately. The first ball was from the corner of the crease. The angle brought the ball into the batsman, but it moved away after pitching and rapped Root on the back thigh. The second ball was from closer to the stumps. That came in after pitching to hit Root on the body again. The next ball, once again, was bowled from the corner of the crease. This went away beating Root's outside edge. The ball that dismissed Root was delivered from the centre of the box; by that time Root's mind was already cluttered. It swung in late, and beat the inside edge to trap Root in front.

In all three innings of this Test series, R Ashwin has dismissed Ben Duckett. The first two dismissals were almost identical, for he planted the front foot straight - instead of going slightly across - and got beaten by the turn. In Rajkot, the ball got the outside edge and in the first innings in Visakhapatnam he was bowled. To address this issue, in the second innings, Duckett stood on off stump as opposed to standing on middle stump in the previous innings, and also employed a different approach. The moment you struggle against spin, the most obvious response is to go on the offensive. Often that stems from the lack of confidence in the defensive technique. Duckett's dismissal - gloving a sweep - showed that that approach can never make up for the lack of skills in Test cricket.

Ashwin has shown immense control of his variations. He has spun the ball at will, and also taken it away from the right-hand batsmen both in the air and off the pitch. This morning was different, though. Some balls went straight after pitching and some turned viciously. This time, I felt, it wasn't always on purpose. We did a split-screen analysis of his release of the ball that went straight and the one that turned, and we saw no visible difference. The wrist, the shine and the fingers worked the same way on both occasions but produced different results. If the bowler isn't sure of the response off the pitch, what chance does a batsman have? But credit must be given to Ashwin for bowling the probing line and length outside off, giving the ball the best opportunity to cause damage when it behaves unexpectedly.

Captains have a huge role to play in the evolution of a cricketer, more so for the bowlers. With the second new ball, Virat Kohli had the option to use Ravindra Jadeja for another longer spell with Ashwin from the other end, but he chose Jayant Yadav. While there's no guarantee of picking up wickets at any stage of the game, there are phases when the likelihood of wickets falling is higher. That's where the captain's role matters. Kohli, quite rightly, has given the debutant requisite confidence. Jayant responded with a beauty to Ben Stokes, and two more wickets in the end.