Lees, Crawley make solid start in big chase

DAY 4 – TEA

Lees and Crawley put India on the backfoot with a rollicking start © AFP

Ben Stokes continued his bowlers’ form in the post-Lunch session by wrapping up India’s tail quickly but it still left his side with the daunting task of chasing 378 – 19 more than England’s best-ever successful run chase, in the Leeds Test of 2019 where Stokes played protagonist. A swashbuckling start from Alex Lees and Zak Crawley – with an opening wicket stand worth 107 runs – dimmed the advantage that India took in at the innings break.

As the batting conditions got much better and there was no hint of swing, Lees made a daring start to England’s riposte – showing the earliest sign of it when he danced down the track to Mohammed Shami to flick away on the leg side. Jasprit Bumrah turned to Ravindra Jadeja as early as the ninth over, which Lees welcomed with a boundary in a 10-run over. Bumrah’s second set of quicks – Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur – couldn’t break through either as Lees and Crawley took England past the 100-run mark in the 20th over. Lees even got to his stroke-filled half-century off only 44 balls.

A change of attack and ball brought India a late breakthrough towards the end of the session, as Bumrah returned for just his fifth over and dismissed Crawley. The England opener – the slightly cautious one of the two – offered no shot to a length ball outside off that nipped back in a bit and hit the top of off stump. He walked back for a 76-ball 46.

After a flattening start to their defence, there seemed a little spring to India’s step as Shami returned and bowled a couple of testing deliveries to the half-centurion. He survived it to head to the break at 56* off 61 – an audacious essay laced with eight fours. His effort pushed England to 107 for 1, trailing India by 271 runs.

England batters got to play as many as 23 overs before Tea because Stokes managed to wrap up India’s tail in a jiffy after the Lunch break. India had walked out with a lead of 361, thanks mainly to Rishabh Pant’s half-century in the morning session. But Stokes removed Mohammed Shami in the first over to speed up the process of ending India’s innings. He followed up after his bowlers made as many as four incisions in the first session, even as India took advantage of having added 104 runs to their already strong overnight lead of 257 runs.

Ravindra Jadeja, now left to bat with the bowlers, tried to bide his time and take it slow but Stokes saw the back of him before he could build a nagging partnership with Bumrah, who turned a few heads with the bat in the first innings. The India captain became Stokes’s fourth wicket of the innings and third of the session, when he tried to clear the fine leg fence with a hook shot for the second time in two balls and failed. India folded for just 245, setting a target of 378 – of which 107 have already been wiped off.

Brief Scores: England 284 & 107/1 (Alex Lees 56*, Zak Crawley 46; Jasprit Bumrah 1-23) trail India 245 & 416 by 271 runs

© Cricbuzz

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