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Rishabh Pant injury, set batters not cashing in peg India back
Jaiswal, Sudharsan hit fifties before being dismissed and England skipper Stokes struck twice on Day 1 of the fourth Test at Old Trafford
MUMBAI: With every period of play, it is becoming evident that Ben Stokes’ all-round brilliance is what separates England and India in the Anderson-Border series. Every time his team is feeling the pressure, trust the England captain to come up with a moment of inspiration and turn the tide. After leading his team to a superb win at Lord’s with a lion-hearted bowling effort, Stokes came up with two big wickets on Day 1 of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, denying India the advantage after their openers had put them ahead.
India hardly put a step wrong all morning after being asked to bat. In challenging conditions for batting, KL Rahul and Yashavi Jaiswal blunted the England new ball attack during a stand of 92. Stokes, however, prized out Shubman Gill before taking out the set No.3 Sai Sudarshan to neutralise India’s early advantage.
India ended the day on 264/4 with Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur holding fort with 19 runs each.
At lunch, India were 78/0. The two openers were set. Rahul was cruising at 39 (77 balls), and after a watchful start Jaiswal had switched gears to pick up a flurry of boundaries. The platform had been set for the innings. In this situation the script generally reads that the second session would be about consolidating, seizing control of the game.
But the game took a different turn. Rahul fell at the score of 46. England made two more inroads to break the game open at tea with Jaiswal out for 58. Had it not been for a dropped catch of Sai Sudarshan (on 20) by keeper Jamie Smith, the visitors would have been in even further trouble.
From not losing a wicket until lunch, India were down to 149/3 at tea.
At the crease were two left-handers, Rishabh Pant and nervous newcomer Sai Sudharsan. They had a fight on hand. Trailing 1-2 after three Tests, India are battling to save the series. A poor first innings would scuttle their hopes.
To their credit, Pant (37 retired hurt) and Sudarshan (61) gritted it out with a 72-run partnership and put the innings back on track.
Sudharsan put behind the dropped catch to help himself to a maiden half-century. Pant, however, lived dangerously, trying to pull off outrageous shots. There was a reverse sweep off Archer for four, a missed reverse ramp on the next ball. He finally paid the price for trying to reverse-sweep the yorker length delivery of Chris Woakes on the total of 212 in the 68th over. An under-edge saved his wicket but he injured his right foot and had to be taken off the field on a buggy, interrupting the growing partnership with Sudharsan.
At the close of play, Stokes had ensured the game was in the balance. The talismanic all-rounder first removed Gill, the leading run-getter of the series, for 12, shouldering arms to an incoming ball, before returning to claim the wicket of Sudharsan by luring him into a hook shot. Stokes has now got Sudharsan all three times in the series. He would have got him even earlier. Targetting the left-hander’s weak spot, Stokes got him to edge down the leg but the catch was put down by Jamie Smith.
Notwithstanding that weakness against the strangle down the leg side, he looked compact in his technique. When the England pacers tested him with the short ball, he didn’t have a problem negotiating it. His third, fourth and fifth fours were horizontal bat shots, a pull off Stokes, a hook and pull off Archer.
He has a strong off-side game. There was a breathtaking wristy drive off left-arm spinner Liam Dawson early in his innings, and he reached his fifty with a similar drive off Joe Root. The pull shot off Archer was also special, stylishly played with his front knee rising high on impact.
With three well-set batters unable to build on and get a hundred, India will now depend on their lower-order to get to a total that can test England. Before Sudharsan threw it away, Rahul was out for 46 and Jaiswal for 58.
The game had begun in gloomy weather but the day had started brightly for India. Rahul led the way. Archer had got Jaiswal in both the innings at Lord’s. So, while building his own innings, the senior batter shielded Jaiswal from Archer, allowing him to face just five balls from his five-over opening spell.
During his knock, Rahul for the first time in his career crossed 400 runs in a series, and completed 1,000 runs in England.
Jaiswal also put his Lord’s second innings dismissal -- he fell to a reckless shot in the first over – to adapt a disciplined approach. He was out on a fine ball from Dawson, who made an impressive Test comeback after eight years.
