Cricket: India and England third Test delicately poised heading into final day at Lord’s
Lord’s Test hangs in the balance heading into Day 5
After sharing the first two Tests, one win apiece, the third match at Lords this weekend was expected to be another close encounter, and that has certainly been the case, with both teams still in the running to secure the victory. India are marginal favourites according to the latest betting odds.
Batting first, England posted 387 in their first innings, with Joe Root starring for the hosts, recording his 37th Test century to move into the top five cricketers with the most Test tons in history, now above Indian and Aussie legends Rahul Dravid and David Warner.
However, KL Rahul spearheaded the visitors' first innings with the bat, putting up 100 runs in 177 deliveries, while Rishabh Pant and Ravidndra Jadeja provided stability in the middle order, scoring 74 and 72 respectively. India matched England’s 387 before being dismissed.
In the second innings, though, the Three Lions were unable to find their rhythm and had lost three wickets by the time they reached 50 runs. They failed to pull it back later on and were eventually bundled out in the 63rd over, setting a 193-run target.
The pick of the Indian bowlers in the second innings was undoubtedly Washington Sundar, who racked up four wickets for just 22 runs in 12.1 overs. He was responsible for the scalps of Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith and Shoaib Bashir.
India stumble out the gate in second innings chase
With England only managing to set their opponents a target of 193 with a little over a day to play, most from a neutral perspective would likely have expected India to ease to victory, given how well they have batted in this series so far.
However, that has not been the case, with the Three Lions making the most of their time in the centre over the closing stages of Day 4, knocking over four of India’s batsmen to end the day with the Men in Blue at 58/4 and in a spot of bother.
In contrast to his performances in the first two matches in this series, Yashasvi Jaiswal has only managed 13 runs in this match and was dismissed for a seven-ball duck on Day 4, while Karun Nair and Shubman Gill were dismissed for a combined tally of 20 runs.
Akash Deep was sent out as the night watchman for the visitors, but he only lasted 11 balls before Ben Stokes clean bowled him, which led to the umpires calling stumps on Day 4. Rahul remains unbeaten on 33 off 47 balls.
Pant will join Rahul on the final morning with India needing 135 runs from an expected 90.2 overs to take the lead in the series. While they are the favourites, that could quickly change if the home side can notch a couple of early wickets on the final day.
