[Watch] Magical Ravichandran Ashwin sends back Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope on back-to-back balls

In a stunning surge back into form, India's lead spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up the first two wickets of England's second innings - opener Ben Duckett and No. 3 Ollie Pope - on consecutive deliveries in the Ranchi Test.

Duckett was the first to go for a run-a-ball 15. After hitting a couple of early boundaries away, through laps and reverse sweeps against the spinners, he got caught up by a quicker delivery on middle and leg stump from Ashwin.

He tried to defend it on the leg side but the ball bounced a touch higher than he anticipated, hit the sticker of his bat, and lobbed for an easy catch to Sarfaraz Khan at forward short leg.

Watch the video of the dismissal here:

Pope, who set the series up for England with a brilliant century in the first Test, fell onto another slider for a golden duck. The ball drifted in a touch and the right-handed batter looked to play for the turn but it went straight quickly from length and rapped him on the back foot as the umpire raised his finger. Pope referred the call but only to see 'umpire's call' on hitting.

Watch that here:

After ages, Rohit Sharma finally trusted Ashwin to open the bowling, something he was known for doing before this series but didn't do much in the first three Tests and it earned him instant rewards for the off-spinner was all over the visitors.

It would have been a big confidence booster for him too, especially because criticism had started mounting on his lack of usual exploits in a home Test series.

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Ashwin becomes the highest wicket-taker in Tests in India

The wickets were Ashwin's 350th and 351st in Tests in India, making him the highest wicket-taker for the format in the country.

In his 59th Test, he went past Anil Kumble, who had 350 wickets from 64 in India.

Catch all the live-action here.

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