India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: Jasprit Bumrah keeps ENG on their toes early

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: India picked up one of the 10 wickets they need to win this match and draw level in the series but England was going at 4.78 runs an over as well chasing a target of 399. It means that Day 4 will, in all likelihood, be the last day of this Test and it could feature a whole of fireworks on both sides. England had finished the day on 67/1 in 14 overs with Zak Crawley on 29 off 50 and nightwatchman (or ‘nighthawk’) Rehan Ahmed on nine off eight. Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Ben Duckett on 28 off 27 and that was the only wicket to fall in the England second innings on Day 3.

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG:(AFP)

If Yashasvi Jaiswal was the protagonist with a double century in India’s first innings, Shubman Gill, fighting for his No.3 spot, led the way in the second with 147-ball 104. Gill overcame a jittery start to smash 104 in India’s second innings total of 255 before the home side folded, leaving England to bat out 14 overs in fading light. England are fretting over the fitness of Joe Root, who hurt his right little finger trying to take a catch in the slip and continues to be monitored.

James Anderson, England’s lone seamer in the match, jolted India with a two-wicket burst after the hosts resumed on 28 for no loss. Anderson struck in the second over of the day with a delivery that curled around Rohit Sharma’s (13) back to uproot his off-stump. The seamer dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal (17) in his next over when the opener played a loose drive and Root took the catch in the slip. Gill was adjudged lbw to Tom Hartley (4-77) early in his knock but the batter reviewed the decision, which was overturned after replays revealed a faint edge.

He was still on four when Anderson rapped him on the pad but England’s lbw appeal was turned down. The tourists challenged that decision but the umpire’s call stood. Gill and Shreyas Iyer (29) threatened to bat England out of the match before two stunning catches dragged the tourists back into the contest. Ben Stokes sprinted backwards towards long off and hurled himself full length to grab a catch to dismiss Iyer.

Ben Foakes then pouched a sharp, low catch behind the stumps after Rajat Patidar (nine) had inside-edged Ahmed (3-88). Gill took a single off spinner Shoaib Bashir to bring up his third test hundred. England finally got their reviews right to get rid of Gill and Axar Patel (45). Gill attempted a reverse sweep against Bashir and was adjudged not out. England reviewed the decision and replays confirmed the ball had hit the batter’s glove en route to Foakes.

Here are some highlights around IND vs ENG 2nd Test Day 4

– England start the day needing 332 to win, India need 9 wickets

– Zak Crawley starts on an overnight score of 29 off 50 while nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed is batting on nine off eight

– Ravichandran Ashwin picked the only wicket of the day for India in the second innings, dismissing Ben Duckett for 28

– England are fretting over Joe Root’s fitness

Follow all the updates here:

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: FOUR! Rehan swinging away

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: Crawley has been trying not to drive all along against Bumrah but the latter sends the last ball of the 17th a tad bit too full. Crawley doesn’t hesitate here, brings out the cover drive and the ball darts to the boundary for the first time today. He moves to 34 off 63, Rehan at the other end on 10 off 13.
IND vs ENG Live Score: England 73/1

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: Rehan comes out swinging
India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: Bumrah bowled a maiden to start out with. Axar bowls the second over of the day, and the 16th of the innings and Rehan tries to smash the first ball he faces over mid-on. It was miscued but the ball doesn’t carry to the fielder there.

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: Early blow for India!
India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: Shubman Gill has hurt his right index finger and won’t be taking the field today. That is a big blow for India, Gill has been extremely reliable in the slip cordon.

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: The players walk out!

India vs England Live Score 2nd Test Day 4, IND vs ENG: Ok then, enough chatter, time for what promises to be an exciting first hour of Day 4. Jasprit Bumrah has the ball in his hands. Zak Crawley has the strike, Rehan Ahmed at the other end.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: The pitch
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan speak about where the pitch stands ahead of the fourth day—seen a couple of balls with variable bounce. That is because there are a few huge cracks near the middle of the pitch. There are a few cracks fuller to the right-hander as well, right under the batter’s eyes. Those will interest the spinners. England will look to trouble India with their sweeps and reverse sweeps, they reckon.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: The match situation
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Less than half an hour to go for the start of play so it is the perfect time for us to do a little recap. England are 67/1, needing 332 runs to win after India set them a record target of 399. Opener Zak Crawley is on 29 off 50 balls, and nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed with him on nine off eight. Ben Duckett fell to Ravichandran Ashwin yesterday having scored 28 in 27 balls.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: ‘The morning session will be essential for us’
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Shubman Gill felt that England will find it tough to chase down a record 399, even though they had earlier chased down 378 against India rather comfortably in Edgbaston in 2022. “As the game goes on, it will have variable bounce as we saw today. It is not turning as much as the other pitches but it is doing something. It is not easy to score runs here. England are never out of the game. I think this is a different kind of wicket than what we played at Edgbaston. Having said that, the morning session will be very important for us as we have seen there is always a bit of moisture coming at the start of the day. That will be the key for us,” said Gill.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Gill’s close call on 4
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Gill managed to overturn an LBW call that went against him when he was on four yesterday. He knew very little about that though with his partner Shreyas Iyer eventually convincing him to ask for the DRS. It had looked plumb to the naked eye but then replays showed a spike right when the ball was between bat and pad. In the end, it was decided that there was a faint edge and Gill survived. He later said that he didn’t feel the inside edge at all.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Cook on Gill
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: England batting great and former captain Alastair Cook was all praise for Gill. Cook says that Gill has made sure that he cannot be dropped even if KL Rahul and Virat Kohli return for the next Test. “What we’ve seen today is just how talented he is, the shots he has, and we’re going to see him the rest of this series. He was out of form, hadn’t scored many runs, and there’s Rahul and Kohli to come back into the side, but he’s made sure now that the selectors can’t ignore him,” he said on TNT Sports.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: England’s ‘nighthawk’ Rehan Ahmed
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: The nightwatchman is usually sent out to guard the wicket and keep it warm for a mainstream batter the next day. Not in Baseball. Rehan Ahmed had been sent out with the cricketing equivalent of what Captain America told the Hulk to do before the start of the climactic battle in The Avengers (the first one). And smash he did. Rehan faced eight balls and two of them were sent to the boundary. He swung at nearly all of them, connecting with the third and last deliveries of the day off Axar Patel. One can expect more of the same from him for whatever amount of time he spends at the crease today. This was a task that Stuart Broad was trusted in and the former pacer had started calling himself the ‘nighthawk’ as opposed to the more humble nightwatchman. Broad also anointed Rehan as his successor to the role when the young spinner hit a few lusty blows in Pakistan last year.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Fast bowling Jekyll and Hyde situation for India
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: India’s two pacers could not be more different in every way. Unfortunately for them, that also includes results. Jasprit Bumrah is completely on song and was as difficult for the England batters to deal with as ever on Day 3. In the five overs he bowled, he conceded just nine runs. On the other hand, Mukesh Kumar got belted for 19 in the two overs he bowled. In the first innings, Bumrah had figures of 6/45 in 15.5 overs. Mukesh returned 0/44 in seven. It is unfair to expect anyone to be even close to being as good as Bumrah but the seemingly utter lack of control at the other end from Mukesh has led to a lot of people on social media wistfully remembering Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav brilliantly backing up Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Test run chases in India
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Touring sides don’t often manage to pull off a big run chase in India. In fact, of the five highest successful run chases in India, four belong to the hosts themselves. The only team that stands out? Viv Richards’ world-beating West Indies in November 1987 in Delhi. The great man himself smashed an unbeaten 109 in 111 balls in the second innings to help the West Indies chase down a target of 276. Above that is India’s successful chase of 387 against England in Chennai in 2008, in which Virender Sehwag scored 83 in 68 balls after which Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh saw India home, scoring 103* and 85* respectively.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Root’s injury
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Joe Root sustained the injury during the 18th over of India’s second innings when he tried to catch an edge from Shubman Gill in the slips. Facing a length ball on off from spinner Tom Hartley, Gill went forward and played with hard hands, only to get a thick edge that flew towards the left of Root in the slip cordon. He managed to get a finger to the ball but could not complete the catch and the ball went for a boundary. “Joe Root sustained an external blow to his right little finger, attempting a slip catch in the first session of D3. The England medical team will keep him off the field for the time being to treat and ice,” England team management said in an update. Anderson said that the reason why Root didn’t return to the field was because the team didn’t want to risk an external blow.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Anderson on his Day 3 performance
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: This is what the great man had to say about what he did on Day 3. “I’m delighted with the five wickets (in the match) but I think I’m more pleased with the fact I got through 35 overs in three days,” said Anderson, who played his first Test in 2003. “I felt strong when I was doing it as well. All that work I was doing in the last few months has paid off, and that’s probably the most satisfying thing for me.”

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: The evergreen Jimmy

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: By the age of 41, great fast bowlers can be seen doing the rounds of commentary box studios, talking about the current game or being interviewed about their great careers. Not James Anderson. At 41, he is still out there, playing Test cricket for England. And he is no spectator. Anderson was England’s joint-highest wicket-taker in the first innings and on Day 3, he sent back a dangerous-looking Rohit Sharma and the first innings double-centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal. That took his career tally to 695 and he is now one five-wicket haul away from becoming the third bowler after Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, and the first pacer ever, to get to 700 Test wickets.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Where this chase would stand in overall records

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: If England do pull this off, this will be the fifth-highest successful run chase of all time in Test history, surpassing the 395 that the West Indies chased against Bangladesh in 2021. They would be four runs behind India’s miraculous chase of 404 that was orchestrated by Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath against the almighty West Indies in 1976, five runs behind the 404 that Australia chased against England in 1948 thanks to Don Bradman and Arthur Morris, 15 runs behind the 414 that AB de Villiers powered South Africa to against Australia at the WACA in 2008 and 19 behind the 418 that the West Indies chased down against Steve Waugh’s world-beating Australia in 2003 thanks to Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Yes, this chase is in some elite company.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Anderson on England’s chase

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Anderson spoke more about how England plans to approach this chase in the post-match press conference. “I know there are 180 overs left in the game, but we will try to do it in 60 or 70. That’s the way we play.” Wowza

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Gill on his celebration

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Like that celebration, Gill kept his explanation simple as well in the post-match press conference. “It felt good. I just thought the job was not done for the team. So, that’s why it was a little mellowed celebration,” he said.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Gill’s (non-)celebration

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Shubman Gill finally brought an end to his string of low scores with a rather majestic second-inning century in Visakhapatnam. Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring a double century and Jasprit Bumrah bringing the world to a halt with his 6-wicket haul, one could argue that it is because of Gill’s 104 off 147 balls that India is so far ahead in this match but there was no big celebration from the No.3 batter after he got to the three-figure mark. There was only a look of relief on his face as he slowly took off his helmet and looked to the sky.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Baz’s Baseball-style pep talk
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: James Anderson revealed what Brendon McCullum told the England players at the end of play on Day 2 and well, you shouldn’t be surprised really. “We got sat down by the coach [Brendon McCullum] last night and he said, ‘if India gets 600 ahead, we’re going to try and chase it down’. And that’s exactly what we’re going to try and do,” he said.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: England’s highest successful run chase
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: If England do pull off this bit of madness today, they will blow past their own highest-ever successful run chase. Interestingly, though, this record was rewritten twice in the last five years and the last time it happened was in the Baseball era against India, when Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow’s centuries made a mockery of a target of 378 in the postponed fifth Test at Edgbaston in 2022. The instance before that was technically before the Baseball era although one could say it was a preview of that. You know which one that is. The Ashes, Headingley, Ben Stokes 135*, Jack Leach 1*, Tim Paine fumbling a review, Nathan Lyon fumbling the ball. Yes, that one.

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: The playing XIs – a reminder
India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mukesh Kumar
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(w), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Hello and welcome!

India vs England Live Score, 2nd Test Match Day 4, IND vs ENG: Well this is it, England start the day needing 332 more runs to win, having finished Day 3 on 67/1, while India needs nine wickets. In normal Test match circumstances, the batting side’s priority in this situation would be to somehow survive the first two sessions, then survive the third session, and then think about how to survive Day 5. But this England side is going to make a red-hot dash at the target. James Anderson was talking about head coach Brendon McCullum saying that they are going to take a shot at any target even if it is over 600 and that they are going to try and chase down 399 in 60 or 70 overs even though they have 180 in hand. The reputation they have built under Ben Stokes and McCullum is such that even the most hardened sceptic of the Bazball method would know that they could actually pull this off if India let their guards down. So today, it will either be a lot of fours and sixes, or a lot of wickets, or, best case scenario, both. In short, it’s going to be fun. And don’t you love it when Test cricket is fun?

Also Read: South Africa vs. New Zealand: Rachin Ravindra scores his first century, while Kane Williamson leaves behind Bradman and Virat Kohli

Final Thought

The fourth day of the second Test match between India and England is setting up to be a thrilling showdown with England chasing a formidable target of 399 runs to win. India, on the other hand, needs nine wickets to level the series. The match has already seen some memorable performances, including a double century by Yashasvi Jaiswal and a century by Shubman Gill, alongside Jasprit Bumrah’s impactful bowling. England’s aggressive approach under the ‘Bazball’ strategy hints at an exciting chase, promising a day filled with cricketing fireworks. Whether it’s through boundary-hitting or wicket-taking, the day is poised to be a spectacular display of Test cricket at its best.

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