ENG vs IND | 4th Test, Day 4: Shardul- Pant, Hameed-Burns set up a likely rollercoaster finish

The fourth Test of the series between England and India being played at the Oval is nicely poised at the end of the fourth day’s play with both the hosts, who need 291 runs and the tourists, who are in pursuit of 10 wickets, going into the final day to get 2-1 up in the series.

The Test match is not giving up on giving excitement and thrill to the true fans of the format as all the four days that have been completed have not left a clear winner. The script remained the same on the fourth day and all the four results such as an Indian win, an England win, a draw or a tie are possible and none of those results will be possible without keen contests between the players on both sides.

England’s comeback

India started the day with 171 runs ahead in the game and a very good looking Virat Kohli at the crease, who was unbeaten with some signature drives through the off side towards’s the end of the third day’s play.

India were significantly ahead in the game but both the game and the series have re-established one of the cliches of the game that one wicket brings two and hence England were not out of the reckoning yet.

The narrative was validated once again as Chris Woakes found movement off an otherwise docile pitch to find Ravindra Jadeja in front of the stumps and then a totally messed up Ajinkya Rahane’s problems were compounded with a nip backer.

Two quick wickets put things in perspective for both sides but the presence of Kohli, who added some more classical drives in his scorecard was a massive thorn in England’s flesh.

Rishabh Pant, who has not had a great run in the series was intelligent enough to not take the game to the opposition and rather opted to wear them down.

However, when Moeen Ali found the outside edge of Kohli’s bat while the Indian skipper, the game threatened to slip out of India’s grasp.

However, staying true to its nature so far, just when the game started to drift away from India and in favour of England, Shardul Thakur and Pant stitched a valiant 100-run partnership to take India beyond the comfortable level of England batsmen.

‘Lord’ Shardul blesses India, again

When Moeen got the better of Kohli with a delivery that kept on going straight after pitching and asking the right-hander to lunge forward, Joe Root would have hoped he will be better against Shardul as well.

Remember, he was the man who came in between India folding out below 15 runs or eventually getting to 191 in the first innings and he was eager to prove those runs were not fluke albeit it came in a pretty uncharacteristic manner compared to a typical Test innings.

He was cautious to not attack Moeen mindlessly but the off-spinner’s eagerness to purchase help from the surface and subsequent flight allowed him leeway through the offside. An Inside-out shot through cover got him going and he never looked back since to take India past the 300-run mark in lead.

As his eyes got in and he started feeling more and more confident, England went to their main men in James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, but Shardul had a perfect mixture of defence and aggression to thwart them. He was severe against anything pitched in his half and imposed himself with shots that would make Kohli proud.

He could not go beyond the score of 60 but his onslaught has had a telling effect on the England bowling attack and captain as they were lacklustre in the field once again to wait for the batsmen to make mistakes instead of buying wickets.

Indian tail wagging

Before the start of the series against England, the capitulation of the Indian tailenders as they are called in general was a big issue for the tourists. Their bowlers used to struggle to wipe the oppositions’ tail while the same bowlers used to struggle with the bat and there was enough talk that suggested that the work was on to improve on that aspect of the team

The work behind the scenes are appearing to be giving dividends as their efforts with the bat have emboldened India in two out of the four Tests of the series against England.

On the fourth day at the Oval as well, all of the last three batsmen such as Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj batted with discipline and a positive approach. They longer appeared to be a walking wicket as was the scene a few months back and it has added another dimension to the team while the think tank does not have to worry about playing with a “long tail”.

Burns, Hameed apply speed breaker to India’s ambitions

When India folded with a lead of 368 runs and some 32 overs remaining to be played on the fourth day, Kohli would have backed his bowlers to take at least two, if not more wickets with him at the end. However, they could not succeed in reaching their target as both Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns applied themselves with pure discipline and a clear mind on a pitch that is still refusing to offer assistance to bowlers irrespective of their kind.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja struggled for rhythm in the initial phase of his spell but came back with his known accuracy to ask some tough questions of the Englihs openers.

Indian pacers were guilty of not asking the openers to play enough with the new ball and they would be disappointed at that aspect of the game.

However, with the scoreboard reading 77/0 at the stumps on the penultimate day and the pitch offering very little assistance to bowlers, England should believe in their ability to at least save the game.

Looking ahead to the final day

India need all of England 10 wickets on the final day while the hosts are requiring to either bat 90 overs to travel to Manchester with the series levelled at 1-1 or 291 runs to go2-1 up in the series.

The Indian team management led by Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri takes pride and reiterates every now and then that the Indian bowlers are good enough to take the “pitch out of the equation” and they won’t find any better opportunities to vindicate their leadership than winning a game on this pitch at the Oval.

For England, a lot will depend on the first four batsmen in the lineup. Hameed and Burns have looked not too uncomfortable, even against the left-arm spin of Jadeja while the fluency of Dawid Malan and the red-hot form of skipper Root will dictate the terms of the hosts’ tactics on the final day.

Like it has been across the last four days of the Tests, the first session of the day will be quite crucial. India will be desperate to breakthrough as early as possible and if the trend of “one brings two” continues to hold true on the final day, England will be tested both mentally and technically.

The pitch will play a massive role in how the teams will base their tactics and if there will be assistance for bowlers, India would be the firm favourites to win the game.