IND v ENG, 1st Test Day 4, Review: England live to fight another day

The morning session of the fourth day belonged to England as they blasted out the Indian batting lineup by picking up seven wickets in the morning. Stuart Broad and Adil Rashid were the wreckers, to say the least as the Indians fell to a pair of nine pins. However, it was the Indians that were on top for the most part as they now have set a target of 405 runs for the Britons.

The day began with the new ball of Stuart Broad making inroads. Of course, it was the partnership between Broad and Anderson, something that has been dong the trick for many a year. Moreover, the fact of the matter remained that the Indians were on the receiving end of the yardstick. The duo was making the ball seam and swing at will.

This exposed the frailties of the Indians in the sense that none of them were minding their off-stump line. Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin were the first to be dismissed in the morning session when both of them were snapped up in the slips. Rahane, in particular, seemed to be hurried and started given the fact that he is one of the calmest players on the pitch.

Then came Adil Rashid and his brand of leg-spin that began to create problems for India. The previous day had seen some impressive bowling, but the Indian skipper Virat Kohli had used the cover drive to great effect to smash boundaries at will. However, a ball tossed up and spinning at will saw the ball catch the outside edge from one of Kohli’s cover drives.

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What was more impressive from the fall of that particular wicket was the fact that Ben Stokes actually pulled off a very unlikely catch, something that has now been deemed as the catch of the series thus far. Rashid continued to pick wickets at will as Wriddhiman Saha was dismissed soon after. A brief resistance from Ravindra Jadeja soon saw him also lose his wicket when his itch to go over the top was quenched when he fished out Moeen Ali in the deep.

Jayant Yadav and Mohammad Shami then went on to impress towards the end of the innings as they added 42 runs for the last wicket. While Jayant Yadav was making the bat do the talking with some impressive shots, it was Mohammad Shami who played his natural game, something that saw him smash the ball into the stands on two occasions.

However, the final wicket fell on the stroke of lunch when Shami was stumped by Jonny Bairstow and all it took was one delivery from Moeen Ali to get his man.

The post-lunch session saw the visiting Britons bat almost 28 overs. However, in spite of this, they had little or nothing to show when it came to chasing the total of 405 runs as they managed just the 40 runs in the session. Needless to say, the Indian bowlers were made to work quite hard, to say the least as they went wicketless.

Both batsmen simply managed to impress with the solidity of their defense and also managed to keep the Indian bowlers at bay, something they were able to accomplish in the first innings. They stood on the brink of requiring 365 runs to complete a victory.

However the final session saw the Britons slam the door straight in the face of the Indians. Haseeb Hameed and Alastair Cook were once again solid in defense as the Indian spinners toiled for the most part of the final session of the day.

What was worse was the fact that the Indian frailties with the DRS system was something that was front and center yet again. Although the two reviews were good reviews in the sense that they would have been given out if the umpire’s decision on the day was out.

Towards the close of play, the impressive Hameed, who had been playing the waiting game rather superbly till then was dismissed by Ravi Ashwin. Joe Root had a few instances of a dismissal and was clearly pressured while he thought about the nightwatchman who would have played instead of him.

However, the final over of the day eventually saw the Indians claim the wicket of Alastair Cook as the Indians concluded the day with some decent bowling to say the least.

Brief Scores:

India, 1st innings: 455 all out

England, 1st innings: 255 all out

India, 2nd innings: 204 all out (V Kohli 81; S Broad 4/33)

England, 2nd innings: 87/2 (A Cook 28*; R Jadeja 1/25)

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