England vs India 5th Test, Day 4, Review: India on the brink of another thrashing

When England ended the third day with a lead of 154 runs, the Indians would still have fathomed a comeback. Alastair Cook and Joe Root haven’t been in the best of forms but played reasonably well in the dying stages of the previous day. Ahead of the fourth day’s place at Kennington Oval in London, India’s task was daunting, but not insurmountable by any means.

The Three Lions definitely had their nose ahead and steadfastly, they kept drilling one nail after the other in India’s coffin. Virat Kohli and Co kept rummaging for answers, only to be slapped with disappointment. By the conclusion of the penultimate day of India’s campaign day on English soil, India need 406 runs, which definitely looks a far cry, with seven wickets in hand.

Root and Cook march along

Root and Cook started the fresh day with a new zeal and hardly looked flustered. The duo milked the bowling without much fuss whatsoever and such was their domination that the Brits ended the pre-lunch session with the score at 243/2 in 74 overs. Between Root and Cook, the session turned out to be more memorable for the latter as he racked up a superlative century.

It was Cook’s last ton in national colours and the entire crowd and his teammates clapped for him in unison. Even Root accomplished his half-century and finished with 92 runs in the first session. In the meantime, England extended their lead to a substantial 283. A total of 129 runs were scored in merely 31 overs as the Indian bowlers haplessly tried their hearts out.

More agony for India

Root scored his 14th century, his first in more than a year. The Cook-Root duo put on 78 more runs after which the 259-run stand was eventually broken by part-time off-break bowler Hanuma Vihari. The debudant got his maiden Test wicket in the form of Root. In his very next delivery, he dismissed Cook, who walked off one final time from the international arena, for 147 runs.

In his walk-back, the Indian players shook hands with the legend. The entire venue gave him a standing ovation. Thereafter, the English batsmen went hell for leather and kept pressing the accelerator. In the quest to do so, they also lost quite a few wickets, but the lead kept mounting much to India’s discomfort. The Poms scored 121 runs in the session in 31 runs.

Rahul restores sanity

The likes of Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, and Adil Rashid flayed their bats and helped England set a humongous target of 464 runs. The visitors would want to forget the start of their run-chase at the earliest as they lost three wickets for two runs in a space of 20 balls. Anderson removed Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara by trapping them plumb in front.

Stuart Broad inflicted the body blow as Kohli perished for a golden duck. However, the situation didn’t fluster Rahul by any means and he played some gorgeous strokes to score 46 runs with eight boundaries. Ajinkya Rahane also buckled down to play out the remaining overs. In the end, they put on 56 runs for the fourth wicket to help India end their day on a positive note.

Brief Scores

England: 332 all out in 122 overs; (Jos Buttler 89, Alastair Cook 71; Ravindra Jadeja 4/79, Ishant Sharma 3/62)

India: 292 all out in 95 overs; (Ravindra Jadeja 86, Hanuma Vihari 56; Moeen Ali 2/50, James Anderson 2/54)

England: 423/8 dec in 112.3 overs; (Alastair Cook 147, Joe Root 125; Hanuma Vihari 3/37, Ravindra Jadeja 1/179)

India: 58/3 in 18 overs; (KL Rahul 46*, Ajinkya Rahane 10*; James Anderson 2/23, Stuart Broad 1/17)

India need 406 runs to win; England need seven wickets to win the series 4-1

Close of play: Day 4

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