Twitter Reactions: Rahul and Rohit go unscathed after Pope and Woakes' fifites give England 99-run lead

The fourth Test between England and India hangs right in the balance. It was a day of ups and downs especially for the visitors. Every time England looked like running away with the game, India pulled things back with a wicket eventually restricting the lead in the first innings to 99. It should’ve been way less had they managed to pick Woakes’ wicket earlier. Nevertheless, they are still in the game and a good batting day on Saturday can give them the ascendancy.

Earlier in the day, England resumed their innings at 53/3 with the match hanging in the balance. Soon, it tilted India’s way thanks to Umesh Yadav who struck twice in the first 40 minutes of play. He dismissed the nightwatchman Craig Overton and then scalped a crucial wicket of Dawid Malan as Rohit Sharma took a brilliant catch at the second slip.

At 62/5, England were staring at a quick end to the innings but the conditions eased out considerably after the first hour of play. Ollie Pope showed his class in his first outing of the series while Jonny Bairstow got comfortable after spending some time in the middle. India’s third and fourth pacers – Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur – disappointed undoing all the hard work undone by Jasprit Bumrah and Yadav.

There was a period in the first session when Pope and Bumrah slammed as many as nine fours in around 4 overs. The flow of runs never stopped as the duo added 89 runs for sixth wicket before Bairstow was pinned in front of the stumps by Mohammed Siraj. It was yet another start for England’s wicketkeeper-batsman but he couldn’t convert into something substantial.

But Pope continued to go strong stitching another partnership with Moeen Ali. These two batsmen took England into the lead and at one stage, things weren’t looking good for the visitors. The pitch was absolutely flat and the shoulders were starting to drop. However, Moeen gave them an opening gifting his wicket with a poor shot off Ravindra Jadeja.

Ollie Pope looked set to get to his century but ended up playing one on to his stumps while on 80. Chris Woakes then took the mantle of the innings in his hand to slam an impressive fifty. His knock made sure England had a decent lead of 99 runs in the first innings as they got bowled out for 290 runs with an hour of play left in the day. Umesh was the best bowler for India with three wickets while Bumrah and Jadeja with two each.

Rahul and Rohit play out the tricky period

India’s openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul then managed to see off the 16 overs. India finished the day at 43/0 with 56 runs still behind in the second innings. Both the batsmen looked in control of their game even though the new ball swung a bit for the home side. While Rahul remained unbeaten on 22, Rohit scored 20*.

The opening session or the first hour on Day three will decide which way the match is going. If England manage to pick a few wickets which they have mostly done in this series, then it could be curtains for the visitors. However, if Rahul and Rohit see off the opening hour, it could be India’s day with the pitch looking absolutely flat.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: