Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 8 (ANI): England extended their lead to 360 runs despite losing quick wickets in the second session of day four in the first Test against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday.
At tea interval, England’s score read 119/5 with Jos Buttler and Ollie Pope unbeaten on the crease at 14 and 18 runs respectively. The English team is leading by 360 runs after bowling out India to 337 in the first innings.
In the second session, India bowled 25 overs and gave away 118 runs. Visitors resumed the second session from 1/1, Dom Sibley and Dan Lawrence tried to build a partnership for the second wicket after losing Rory Burns (0) on the first ball of the second innings.
Sibley and Lawrence added a brief stand of 32-run before Ravichandran Ashwin struck again and dismissed the former in the 11th over.
Sibley was caught by Cheteshwar Pujara at leg-slip and departed after scoring 16 runs. Skipper Joe Root joined Lawrence in the middle stitched another 26-run brief partnership for the third wicket. Ishant Sharma came in play and scalped Lawrence to complete his 300th Test wicket.
Ishant trapped Lawrence (18) in front of the stumps. The batsman took the review but the third umpire stayed with the on-field umpire’s decision.
He became the third Indian pacer to do so after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan. Overall, Ishant is the sixth Indian bowler to take 300 Test wickets. Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, and Ravichandran Ashwin are the other five bowlers who have taken 300 wickets in Test cricket.
Ben Stokes, came in to bat at number four, in search of adding quick runs lost his wicket cheaply. Ashwin removed Stokes (7) in the 18th over and left visitors reeling at 71/4.
Before the conclusion of the second session, England lost in-form batsman Root as Jasprit Bumrah caught him in front of the wickets. Root played a knock of 40 runs off 32 balls including seven fours.
Jos Buttler and Ollie Pope are now piling England’s lead further in the game. For the hosts, Ashwin bagged three wickets while Ishant and Bumrah bagged one scalp each.
Earlier, the first session saw 81 runs being scored in 23.5 overs. India resumed day four at 257/6, Ashwin and Washington Sundar saw off the first 45 minutes with relatable ease and the duo managed to move the scoreboard at a brisk pace. During this course, Sundar also registered his second half-century in Test cricket.
However, skipper Joe Root introduced Jack Leach into the attack with the new ball and this resulted in Ashwin’s dismissal in the 87th over of the innings, reducing India to 305/7, still 74 runs away from the follow-on mark. Sundar and Ashwin had stitched together a partnership of 80 runs from 178 balls.
Soon after, Leach sent Shahbaz Nadeem (0) back to the pavilion as he had the right-hander caught at the hands of Ben Stokes at first slip, and this reduced India to 312/8 in the 91st over. Ishant Sharma (4) was then dismissed by James Anderson and India was left at risk of being asked to follow-on.
In the end, Sundar hit a few aggressive shots off the bowling of Root, but Anderson dismissed Jasprit Bumrah (0) and as a result, India was bowled out for 337.
On day three, India was left in a spot of bother at 73/4 with Virat Kohli (11), Rahane (1), Shubman Gill (29), and Rohit Sharma (6) back in the hut, but Rishabh Pant (91) and Cheteshwar Pujara (73) revived the innings for the hosts. However, both batters missed out on scoring a century.
Brief Scores: England 578 and 119/5 (Joe Root 40, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-49); India 337 (Rishabh Pant 91, Washington Sundar 85*, Dom Bess 4-76). (ANI)