In the fourth Test against England, India, led by captain Shubman Gill, batted brilliantly to maintain the series’ momentum heading into the final game.
India batted for over five sessions to take two more wickets to put an end to the match 425-4 at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday after losing two wickets before the team had scored a run in their second innings.
The home crowd had little to cheer on a difficult day five for England thanks to a brave 100 from Gill, his fourth of the series, and his unwavering unbeaten centuries from Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar.
The hosts must win the series opener at The Oval in London on Thursday to avoid being defeated, which will be a close one with England still in play.
Given that we were running about 300 runs short of the lead, this is no less than a win for us. Our batsman put on a fantastic performance, Gill told the BBC.
“With a little bit of luck going our way as some balls can get dragged on, brilliant batting and brave batting,” England’s batters did a little bit, but it was doing a little bit, and it was fantastic.
England’s Ben Stokes, who took five wickets for India in their opening innings but was unable to bowl much on Saturday, started the attack on Sunday morning, leading India to 174-2.
At this point, the hosts were undisputed favorites to win, and Stokes’ reintroduction paid off. KL Rahul’s excellent third-wicket partnership with Gill came to an end with 188 and the 34-year-old was trapped by lbw for 90.
Even after receiving a nasty hand, Gill remained unfazed, though. The 25-year-old became the third captain to score four hundred runs in a single Test series in his first capstone role.
Gill Falls
A tired-looking Gill looked on as a Jofra Archer delivery fell just before lunchtime for 103. Joe Root had a difficult first-class chance when Jadeja was dropped on the next ball.
India saw the draw in relative comfort, but England still had plenty of time to win.
After lunch, Washington settled in a conservative manner, but he hit numerous boundaries, including a massive six, to complete his fifth Test half-century. Jadeja became the third Indian player to do so this series after going through 1, 000 Test runs against England.
After tea, England offered India the chance to call a late stop to the game, but Gill kept his team there as their chance of winning was gone.
Before Washington’s maiden Test hundred, Jadeja swept to his fifth century under no pressure as England switched their bowlers.
Then, in 2022, England’s first non-rain-affected draw since coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes were paired together, India agreed to a draw.
Stokes addressed the media with “another hard-fought Test.” “A new five-dayer,” We did a fantastic job of setting up the game by pressing on the Indian bowlers and batting once.
We had a good chance of beating them. Stokes continued, “We played the game as we wanted to, and it didn’t just turn out as we wanted.”
I feel better physically, and I feel better mentally. This series has had a lot of work going.
Source: Aljazeera
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