ENG vs IND: 5th Test – England inch closer to a historic chase

India began Day 4 in a strong position, having a lead of 257 runs with seven wickets in hand. Batters on the crease, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant, added 78 runs for the fourth wicket before the former was dismissed for a well-made 66 runs off 168 balls. After that partnership was broken, India lost wickets at regular intervals and were eventually dismissed for 245.

Having to chase 378 runs with over four sessions to spare, England openers were off to a flyer as Indian bowlers failed to contain the runs. Going into the final day, England need only 119 runs with seven wickets in hand. It won’t be wrong to state that the fourth day truly belonged to England.

Rishabh Pant’s 50

Rishabh Pant, coming into the innings on the back of a spectacular 146 in the first innings, scored a well-made 57 off 86 balls. It proved to be a crucial knock in taking India to a lead of over 350, given that none of the batters who came afterwards scored past 23. He seemed to have made up his mind to take on the left-arm orthodox spinner Jack Leach, which eventually cost him his wicket as the southpaw got out going for a reverse sweep, getting caught by Joe Root at slip.

England openers regain form

England openers, Alex Lees and Zak Crawley, kickstarted the chase with some aggressive batting upfront, taking on the Indian fast bowlers. They put on 107 runs on the board for the first wicket within 22 overs, before Crawley departed for 46 runs off 76 balls. Lees, on the other hand, scored a fifty and was run-out in the 25th over for 56 off 65 balls after having an mix-up with Joe Root, who was at the other end.

Jasprit Bumrah – The lone warrior with the ball

Skipper Jasprit Bumrah was, yet again, in the center of things for India in the bowling department. While the rest of the pack – Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Ravindra Jadeja – failed to take wickets or stop the scoring rate, it was Bumrah who came up with a couple of spectacular deliveries to dismiss Crawley and Ollie Pope. Like in the first innings, it came to the shoulders of Bumrah to knock out the English top order. As things stand, every other pacer has been wicketless and going over at an economy rate four runs per over, including Siraj who has gone for 6.40 runs per over so far.