Despite Washington Sundar’s brilliant bowling keeping the target under 200, India couldn’t finish the day comfortably with the bat.
Opening as a “nightwatchman,” Akash Deep remained unbeaten for a while but couldn’t see out the day, getting out in the final over. Even though Sundar’s fine bowling restricted England’s target below 200, India ended the day unsettled at the crease. After a batting collapse, England started their bowling with great intensity.
The Lord’s Test in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is set for an exciting finale. On the last day, India needs 135 runs to win, while England requires 6 wickets. The result could go either way.
A total of 14 wickets fell between the two teams on day four. After both sides scored identical runs in the first innings, England were bowled out for 192 in their second innings.
Chasing 193, India finished the day at 58 for 4 wickets. Lokesh Rahul, who scored a century in the first innings, remained unbeaten.
In the final session, Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for a duck. He became the second victim of pacer Jofra Archer in the match.
Rahul and Karun Nair were building a solid second-wicket partnership, but it was broken at 36 when Karun was given LBW off Brydon Carse’s bowling.
Captain Shubman Gill, who scored 430 runs in the previous Test, failed again in this match. He was dismissed LBW by Carse for 6 runs. However, during this innings, the 25-year-old batsman surpassed Rahul Dravid’s record of 602 runs, setting a new record for the most runs by an Indian in a Test series in England with 607.
With 15 minutes left, India sent pacer Akash Deep to bat. In the day’s final over, Rahul took a single off the first ball to give Akash the strike, but on the fourth ball, England captain Ben Stokes bowled him, breathing new life into England’s hopes.
Earlier, England resumed the day at 2 for no loss but lost opener Ben Duckett early. Oliver Pope, coming in at number three, couldn’t last long either. Both were dismissed by pacer Mohammed Siraj.
Jack Crawley tried to stabilize the innings but fell short, scoring 22 runs off 49 balls. England were under pressure at 50 for 3 wickets.
Harry Brook tried to steady the ship with a counterattack but was dismissed for 23 runs off 19 balls after playing a poor shot. He was bowled by Akash Deep while attempting a lap sweep.
The fifth-wicket partnership of 67 runs between former captain Joe Root and Ben Stokes took England past 150 runs. This was the highest partnership of the innings.
Joe Root, who scored a century in the first innings, was bowled by Washington Sundar playing a sweep shot off the pads. Shortly after, Sundar also dismissed in-form wicketkeeper-batsman Jamie Smith.
England reached tea at 175 for 6 wickets. After the break, trying to attack Washington, Stokes was bowled for 33 runs off 96 balls. The rest of the tailenders fell quickly.
England lost their last four wickets for just 11 runs.
All of England’s last seven batsmen were bowled, making a total of 12 bowled dismissals across both innings—an all-time high for them at home. The previous record was 11 bowled dismissals at The Oval against Australia in 1882.
This is now the record for the most bowled dismissals by an Indian team in a Test match. Their previous best was 10 bowled dismissals against England in Hyderabad last year.
Washington was India’s most successful bowler with figures of 4 for 22 in 16 overs, including 4 maidens, and 4 wickets for 22 runs. His performance is the best by an Indian spinner in England since Harbhajan Singh took 5 wickets for 115 runs at The Oval in September 2002.
Despite the excellent bowling effort, India’s comfort was lost on the batting front. Rahul, the backbone of the innings, will resume on day five unbeaten on 33 runs.
In this third Test of the five-match series, the winner will take a 2-1 lead.
Brief scorecard
England 1st innings: 387
India 1st innings: 387
England 2nd innings: 192 all out (Crawley 22, Duckett 12, Pope 4, Root 40, Brook 23, Stokes 33, Smith 8, Oakes 10, Carse 1, Archer 5*, Bashir 2; Bumrah 16-3-38-2, Siraj 13-2-31-2, Nitish 5-1-20-1, Akash 8-2-30-1, Jadeja 8-1-20-1, Washington 12.1-2-22-4)
India 2nd innings: 58/4 in 17.4 overs (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 33*, Karun 14, Gill 6, Akash 1; Oakes 5-2-11-0, Archer 4-0-18-1, Stokes 4.4-0-15-1, Carse 4-1-11-2)
