London, July 13 Skipper Ben Stokes’ ability to conjure up moments of brilliance again came true when he castled nightwatchman Akash Deep in the final over, as England left India at 58/4 in 17.4 overs at stumps on day four of third Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Lord’s on Sunday.
After off-spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar used his drift and accuracy well to pick a brilliant 4-22 and end England’s second innings at 192 in 62.1 overs, India embarked on a chase of 193 to go 2-1 up in the five-match series.
But in the last 30 minutes of day’s play, England picked up three wickets to tilt the game in their favour ahead of day five. India still have first-innings centurion KL Rahul unbeaten on 33 and they would want him to stay till the end to knock off the remaining 135 runs.
India didn’t have a great start to the chase as Yashasvi Jaiswal, who looked jittery in the first over off Chris Woakes, fell for a seven-ball duck after skying a short and wide delivery straight up in the air and was caught by Jamie Smith off Jofra Archer’s bowling.
Rahul, who got off the mark by flicking Archer through fine leg for four, got a life when Chris Woakes couldn’t hold on to a catch off his own bowling. After that, Rahul looked settled with his backfoot punch, square drives and steering past gully with soft hands to take four boundaries.
But from the other end, England kept taking wickets - Karun Nair made an error of judgement in the leave and was trapped lbw after being hit right on the pads by a nip-backer from a brilliant Brydon Carse.
Skipper Shubman Gill never looked in control during his short stay at the crease and was struck on the knee roll by another nip-backer from Carse, with the ball tracking showing the ball would smash into the middle stump.
With the crowd egging England on, Stokes then got one to straighten past Akash’s outside edge and flatten his off-stump on the final ball to lift England’s spirits ahead of a big day five, after 14 wickets fell on day four.
Brief Scores: England 387 and 192 in 62.1 overs (Joe Root 40, Ben Stokes 33; Washington Sundar 4-22, Mohammed Siraj 2-31) lead India 387 and 58/4 in 17.4 overs (KL Rahul 33 not out; Brydon Carse 2-11) by 135 runs
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