This pivotal third Test has been an arm-wrestle and which team ends up slamming their opponents to the table is still a glorious uncertainty. The fifth day will be a short one, that much can be said, as can India being marginal favourites. But after a chaotic fourth signed off by Ben Stokes exploding off stump, England will still believe.
Set 193 to win after an inspired outing with the ball, India will resume four down in the morning and still 135 runs away from claiming a 2-1 lead with two to play. And yet if Stokes, his fellow bowlers and the Lord’s crowd recapture the cauldron-like atmosphere witnessed before the close – 17.4 overs of theatre that ended with nightwatcher Akash Deep being castled – that final ascent will be far from straightforward.
Perhaps the earlier clatter of 10 English wickets should have been telegraphed, four years on from the Long Room spat that led Virat Kohli to demand “60 overs of hell” from his attack in what became a famous win. After the row about timewasting on the third evening this time, Shubman Gill’s men had all the extra motivation they needed. Mohammed Siraj, who wiped out the first two, utterly thrives in these situations.
Dead-level after the two first innings and tasked with setting a target on an increasingly up-and-down surface, England slightly wilted here. Seven men were clean bowled in their 192 all out in 62.1 overs – 12 in the match was also a record for England at home – with Jasprit Bumrah, two for 38 from 16 overs, and Washington Sundar, four for 22 from 12.1, the ones shouting “timber” as leather met with ash rather than willow.
But England then let slip the handbrake themselves in response, with Jofra Archer bouncing out the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal in his first over to get the home supporters dreaming. Archer struggled to contain thereafter, the Indian cheers growing with it, and the pivotal strikes instead came from Brydon Carse: two lbws, including the form-rich Gill for six, that rewarded his unrelenting catapult-like heft and canny use of the slope.
KL Rahul made it to stumps unbeaten on 33, having offered a caught and bowled chance to Chris Woakes on five and compounded this further by slotting his next two deliveries for four. But after Gill fell, the tailender Deep was pushed out of the away dressing room to see out the day alongside him: a job was just about done, even if he was eventually knocked over. Amusingly, India were the ones stalling for time during this frantic finale, with their physio the one seen running on to the field amid ironic cheers.
Both medical teams have been busy in this match and, as well as Rishabh Pant being next in after sitting out the third innings with a finger injury, it remains to be seen if Shoaib Bashir will play a role on the final day. The off-spinner is also nursing a busted digit that, while on his left hand, is clearly causing problems. If he does, he will do well to match his opposite number, Sundar, who bowled like Ravichandran Ashwin respawned.
Turn was not what outfoxed England as they lost their last six wickets for 38 after lunch, rather more drift than the entire Fast and the Furious franchise. It was enough to stem English hopes of a sizable total, with Joe Root, 40, and Stokes, 33, undone on the sweep and Jamie Smith squared up and bowled for eight. Sundar is far more than just a lower-order ballast with bat, even if his presence in that regard will add to India’s confidence on the fifth day.
The tone was set first thing as the tourists summoned up the tamasha and reduced England to 98 for four by lunch. The only real shock during this positively smouldering first session was Bumrah going wicketless. Bowling from the Nursery End – the end where Archer was later deployed – he exploited a surface offering variable bounce with deliveries that either scuttled through or rapped Zak Crawley on the gloves.
India were ferocious yet disciplined, none more so than the spiky Siraj. The man who unleashed hell here four years ago forced Ben Duckett into a hack across the line on 12 and then pinned Ollie Pope lbw for four after persuading Gill to review. Siraj will probably have his collar felt by the match referee for getting in Duckett’s face as he celebrated – the nudge of shoulders appeared accidental – but it is unlikely to change him.
Assisting the change bowlers was the substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, who had a battle with byes – not unusual for visitors to Lord’s – but added to the claustrophobia by standing up to the stumps. Crawley slashing Nitish Kumar Reddy to a second gully on 22 felt a byproduct of this – even if he did not exactly exude permanence. With the much-fancied Jacob Bethell waiting in the wings, both he and Pope will feel vulnerable.
From 50 for three, Harry Brook attempted a counterattack by scooping Deep for successive fours and marmalising one straight six. But a subtle tweak by Gill, moving his fine leg tighter to make the scoop more risky, prompted Brook to try a sweep in Deep’s follow-up over, only to miss a straight one – the first crash of stumps being rattled in what became the soundtrack to England’s innings thereafter.
