291 in 90 overs all ten wickets in tact on day 5. Will England go for it?

By Brian Thomas

Day four of the 4th Test between England and India was at a balance despite India having an over night lead of 171 runs and 7 wickets in hand. This based on the fact that England have relatively a new ball just 12 overs old, hence a few quick wickets can set the cat among the pigeons .

The weather in good old Blighty was 18 degrees Celsius, humidity 85 %, not a cloud in the sky, the wicket still good for runs, wonderful ingredients for India to grind the Englishmen.

Kohli walks in with Jadeja, the former on 22 and the South paw looking composed on 9. The expert box felt the ball will come onto the bat, hence India have the best conditions to bat for long periods of time, and this seems their first opportunity to bat in these batting friendly conditions this summer.

Ravindru Jadeja and Virat Kohli did well to negotiate the English seamers who tried all the ticks in the box to get lateral movement. They tried seam up , cross grip across the seam scrambled seam , slow cutters but to no avail

Joe Root introduced Chris Woakes who came wide of the crease , slipped an angle delivery which straighten and got Jadeja plum in front for 17 and India lost their 4th wicket on 296 , sadly the 59 run partnership between Kohli and Jadeja came to a close.

Ajinkya Rahane is having a bad summer. Chris Woakes got him to play across a straight delivery, an the right hander trying to clip a 6 meter fuller length delivery was stuck plum in front again and he was ruled LBW for nought and India in a bit of bother from 270 for 3 wickets to 296 for 5 wickets.

Virat Kohli executed some eye catching cover drives , and even drove Anderson down the ground and looked set for a big one. He had his fair share of luck , he edged two deliveries to the slip cordon, the ball did not carry, because he did no jab at the deliveries but used his skill levels to release the back grip when getting bat to ball. However the English slip cordon was standing too far back for a four day pitch because the ball does not have the bounce to carry stand so far.

Sadly Kohli’s vigil came to an end when Moeen Ali smoked him with an off spinner and had him caught for 44 by bucket palm Craig Overton with India on 312. India took Lunch on 329 for 6 with a lead of 230 runs with Pant and Thakur at the wickets. Pant is on 16 and Thakur on 12. Having made 59 runs in pre lunch session and losing 3 wickets in the process the game still stood in the balance.

A hundred run partnership for the 7th wicket by Rishab Pant and Shardur Thakur took India to 445 runs for 8 Wickets and a defendable lead of 346 runs with two wickets in hand, is exactly what India would have targeted. Pant and Thakur were brutal against the tired legs of the English seamers. Thakur followed up his first innings 54 with a proper batsman mode 60, whilst Rishab Pant made a valuable 50.

Both players lost their wickets back to back , Thakur caught by Overton off Root for 60 with India on 412, followed by Pant brilliantly caught and bowled by Moeen Ali with the score on 414.

India were ultimately bowled out for 466 runs and set England a target of 368 to win.

The wicket for a day 4 Test matches in English conditions looked a rarity. No swing , no seam , no laternal movement, no reverse swing since the out field is lush green , hence India’s tail wagged with Umesh Yadev scoring 25 and Jasprit Bumrah joining the party with 24.