Lunch, Day Four
India 224 & 396
England 247 & 164-3 (Duckett 54, Brook 38, Root 20)
England need a further 210 runs
Harry Brook went on the front foot, literally and figuratively, to drag the fifth Test back towards equilibrium after India’s seamers struck twice in the first hour. From a wobbly 106-3, Brook and Joe Root rattled along at nearly six an over, their unbroken stand worth 58 when the players broke for lunch.
The morning had started brightly for India. Prasidh Krishna tempted Ben Duckett with a fuller ball outside off; Duckett’s hands followed it, KL Rahul collected a neat chance at second slip and India found their voice. Mohammed Siraj then jagged one back into Ollie Pope’s front pad, the stand-in skipper burning a review on his way, and at 106-3 England were tottering.
Brook’s response was brisk. On 19 he miscued a pull straight to long leg where Siraj, in completing the catch, trod on the advertising cushion. A collective groan from the slip cordon told the story. The Yorkshire right-hander cashed in, lashing Prasidh through extra cover and twice cutting Akash Deep behind point. In ten overs the tone had changed.
Root was quieter, almost scratchy to begin with. He survived a tight lbw call from Prasidh and needed a tidy outside-edge past gully to get moving. Yet by the interval he looked more settled, content to let Brook do most of the pushing while he tucked singles and waited for anything on his pads.
Former England captain Alastair Cook, on BBC commentary, summed it up neatly: “India have the runs, England have the time. Brook’s tempo is the wildcard.”
India’s attack, armed with a second new ball 26 overs away, will know Root is the prize. Equally, England understand that one wicket can reopen the door for Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja this afternoon, rough outside off already in play for the spinner.
The match position remains delicately poised: 210 more needed, seven wickets in hand, conditions decent for batting but pressure rising by the over. An absorbing session lies ahead.
