Rishabh Pant, ICC
Rishabh Pant [Image-BCCI]

A sensational hundred by Rishabh Pant and a brilliant unbeaten half-century by Washington Sundar has helped India wrestle back the initiative from England as they recovered from a precarious position of 6/146 to finish the day at 7-294 with an overall lead of 89 runs.

Team India were dealt with back-to-back body blows on the second morning of the fourth Test with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli once again failing to notch up a big score in this series. England bowlers were right on the money in the morning session as the likes of James Anderson, Ben Stokes, and Jack Leach bowled with great discipline, ensuring that India scored a mere 17 runs in the first 15 overs, losing two wickets in the process.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s struggles against Jack Leach continued as he fell to the left-arm orthodox for the 4th time in the series. Virat Kohli registered his second duck of the four-match series and once again it was English all-rounder Ben Stokes who had his number. With Ben Stokes being the only seamer in the team alongside James Anderson, the charismatic cricketer bowled a marathon spell on the second morning where he made use of the bounce offered by the surface to great effect.

Rohit Sharma, Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes [Image-BCCI]
And, again it was the extra bounce that he extracted courtesy a perfectly pitched short of a good length delivery which led to the undoing of Virat Kohli, who edged one straight to Ben Foakes. Ajinkya Rahane came out with a positive mindset and scored four boundaries during his 45-ball 27 but as has been the theme with Rahane’s batting in the past few years, he once again failed to convert his start into a big knock and fell to James Anderson at the stroke of the Lunch break.

It all happened on the fifth delivery of the 37th over when Anderson set Rahane up with a series of inswingers and outswingers and the Indian vice-captain could not resist the urge of poking outside the off-stump. Ben Stokes took a brilliant low catch to give James Anderson his second scalp of the innings.

The wicket of Rahane meant England bossed the first session as they gave away just 56 runs and took three big wickets in the form of Pujara, Kohli, and Rahane. India started off on a positive note in the afternoon session as Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant scored 41 runs in the first 13 overs. Sharma once again looked imperious during his stay at the crease. During his knock, he became the fastest Indian opener to score more than 1000 runs but just as it looked like he was warming up for another big knock, Ben Stokes once again weaved his magic.

Rohit Sharma, Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes dismisses Rohit Sharma [Image-BCCI]
The England all-rounder got one to jag back in to trap Rohit in front of the wicket for 49. Rohit was slightly unlucky as replays showed that both impact and ball tracking displayed that it was ‘Umpire’s Call’. Ravichandran Ashwin survived a few close calls against Ben Stokes before he played against the spin-off Jack Leach to give a simple catch at short midwicket. Rishabh Pant survived a close LBW call against Dom Bess at the stroke of Tea break.

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Barring that, the southpaw looked quite comfortable during his stay at the crease. Pant scored his runs all around the field and the most impressive thing about his knock was the manner in which he rotated the strike. Pant brought up his 3rd fifty of the series after the Tea break and along with Washington Sundar helped India get past England’s total. Pant got his first 50 in 84 balls post which he proceeded to tee off like only he can.

India, England,Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant [Image-BCCI]
The swashbuckling 23-year-old batsman took the English attack to the cleaners and went on to smoke his next 5o runs in a mere 35 deliveries to bring up his maiden Test ton on home soil and the third of his career. The southpaw unleashed his full repertoire of strokes against both pace and spin. Square-cuts? Check. Pull? Check. Reverse-Lap? Check. Off James Anderson? Check. Slog Sweep? Check. Lofted drive over the bowler’s head? Check. Check. Check.

The southpaw brought up his 100 with a typical slog-sweep off Joe Root. Pant got brilliant support from Washington Sundar as the duo went hammer and tongs against the new ball. Pant was eventually dismissed for 101 but Washington continued with his merry way to bring up his third Test fifty. Washington Sundar and Axar Patel ensured that India did not lose any more wickets as India finished the day with an overall lead of 89.

 

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

https://twitter.com/benjonescricket/status/1367787432456974336?s=19

India, England,Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant [Image-BCCI]

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