Day 4 of the second India vs England Test at Lord's saw the match continue to swing in favour of the hosts thanks to some early wickets.
Follow Us
Day 4 of the second India vs England Test at Lord’s saw the match continue to swing back and forth. Going into the final session, India are 105-3 and lead by 78 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara (29*) and Ajinkya Rahane (24*) will hope to keep batting long in the third session.
The two veterans approached the innings in circumspect fashion. Given India had lost three key wickets in the first session, this was understandable.
They brought up the fifty-run stand just before the end of the second session. The aim now would be to bat out the session at least, if not at least another on Day 5.
That should realistically give the visitors enough runs to defend – and enough time to bowl out the opposition.
England, for their part, will look to get at least one if not both batsmen out. India’s lower-order is famously brittle and England would have a chance at an easy win if they dismissed India today.
The Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma made up for middle order’s failure so far in the series. But they could not bat long on this occasion.
Like Joe Root did for England, the onus was on Virat Kohli to score a big one and bring his team back into the game. That he failed to do so made the match harder for the visitors.
Kohli had scored 20 off 31 balls, which is a promising start. But he poked at a wide Sam Curran delivery to leave his team in deeper trouble.
Pujara, who too is in desperate needs of runs, took 35 balls to get off the mark, He was three off 46 balls at the lunch break. Ajinkya Rahane, also out of form, was on one off eight balls.
Root introduced Wood rather early in the session with the ball not doing much in the air. Having the advantage of extra pace, Wood hit the deck hard to trouble the batsmen.
He got rid of first innings centurion Rahul (5 off 30) early. A back of a length delivery straightened slightly to take the outside edge, leaving the batsmen stuck in the crease.
Rohit Sharma (21 off 36) once again looked in sublime touch before falling to a pull shot. This was the second time in the series he fell in similar circumstances.
Having pulled Wood for a six, Rohit went for another one in the same over. But failed to control the shot and was caught at deep backward square.
Considering the game situation, the shot was avoidable but Rohit has made it clear that he will go for his strokes if the ball lands in his “areas”.
