Rahul-Gill hold fort against England on Day 4 of 4th Test
India has scored 174 runs for two wickets on the fourth day in the second innings of the fourth test against England. India is currently 137 runs behind the hosts. England’s first innings ended at 669 runs. Earlier, India had scored 358 runs in their first innings. By the end of Saturday’s play, KL Rahul is at the crease with 87 runs and skipper Shubman Gill with 78 runs.
India’s second innings started with a jolt. Chris Woakes gave two jolts to the team in the first over itself. He made Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudarshan his victims. Both could not even open their account. After this, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul took over the charge. There has been an unbeaten partnership of 174 runs in 373 balls between the two till stumps which showed shades of the storied Dravid-Laxman partnership against Australia in 2001. Gill is at the crease with 78 runs in 167 balls with the help of 10 fours and KL is at the crease with 87 runs in 210 balls with the help of eight fours. Chris Woakes took two wickets for England. In the second innings, Gill completed the eighth half-century of his Test career in 77 balls. At the same time, KL Rahul completed the 19th half-century of his Test career in 141 balls. On the fifth day, India will try to draw the match. For this, they will have to bat all day and save wickets.
England’s first innings ended on 669 runs. In this way, the hosts gained a lead of 311 runs over India. The guests had scored 358 runs for 10 wickets in the first innings. Joe Root and Ben Stokes played centuries in the first innings for England. At the same time, Ravindra Jadeja took four wickets for India.
The fourth day’s play started with a score of 544 for seven wickets. England scored 125 runs in the first session and were all out for 669. During this, Ben Stokes played a brilliant innings of 141 runs in 198 balls. 11 fours and three sixes came off his bat. He shared a 95-run partnership in 97 balls with Brydon Carse for the ninth wicket. Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah bowled Liam Dawson. He was dismissed after scoring 26 runs.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett gave England a great start in the first innings. There was a 166-run partnership for the first wicket between the two, which was broken by Ravindra Jadeja. He made Crawley his victim. He was dismissed after scoring 84 runs in 113 balls with the help of 13 fours and a six. After this, Ben Duckett became dubutant Anshul Kamboj’s maiden wicket. Duckett was dismissed after scoring 94 runs with the help of 13 fours. However, he missed out on completing his century by six runs. The second day’s play ended at a score of 225/2. Ollie Pope was at the crease with 20 runs in 42 balls and Joe Root with 11 runs in 27 balls and India was 133 runs ahead.
In the first session of the third day, Root and Pope shared a 135-run partnership and took the team total to 332 runs. After this, India got the first success of the day in the second session. Washington Sundar got Ollie Pope caught out by KL Rahul. He returned to the pavilion after scoring 71 runs. He shared a 144-run partnership in 231 balls with Joe Root for the third wicket. Washington Sundar gave the fourth blow to England. He made Harry Brook his victim. He could score only three runs.
After this, captain Ben Stokes took the charge with Joe Root for batting and equaled India’s 358 runs. During this, Joe Root completed the 38th century of his Test career in 178 balls. He returned to the pavilion after scoring 150 runs in 248 balls. Ravindra Jadeja made him his victim. Root became the second highest run scorer in Tests. He left Ricky Ponting behind. The Australian player has 13378 runs in this format. Root has now left him behind. He has 13379* runs to his name. Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for most runs in the red ball format. He scored 15921 runs in 329 innings. During England’s innings, Ben Stokes retired hurt and returned to the pavilion. He complained of cramps in his left leg, but after some time he returned to the field. He was dismissed after scoring 141 runs in 198 balls with the help of 11 fours and three sixes. Apart from him, Chris Woakes scored four, Brydon Carse scored 47 and Jofra Archer scored two runs. For India, Ravindra Jadeja took four wickets while Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar got two wickets each. Meanwhile, Anshul Kamboj and Mohammed Siraj got one success each.
