The shoulders had dropped, the bodies pushed to the limits, the wind appeared out of the Indian sails, as England made a stranglehold in the Old Trafford Test. But KL Rahul and captain Shubman Gill battled the odds to survive and fight another day.
England continued batting with ease in the morning of Day 4 with Ben Stokes and Liam Dawson as Indian bowling looking jaded went through the motions. Though Dawson went early, Stokes and Brydon Carse put up a quickfire 95 run partnership to give England a mighty upper hand in the match. Ben Stokes brought up his 14th Test century and soaked in all the applause. England were wrapped up for 669 runs, with a massive lead of 311 runs.
It was looking already tough for India, but a disastrous start to the second innings made things pretty dark for the visitors. Chris Woakes removed Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan in the first over. Both players fell for ducks as England players were cock a hoop at the stroke of Lunch.
Gill and Rahul began the second session under the English onslaught. Jofra Archer and Woakes bowled brilliantly, but the Indians managed to survive, though only just, but they still stood firm with tremendous determination.
Gill was the first to get going, scoring a few fluent boundaries to display the first signs of resistance as KL Rahul followed suit. They kept out the good balls and invariably punished the bad ones. Both Indian batters drove brilliantly down the ground.
As the ball began to soften, batting became easier. Ben Stokes who has been sensational with his bowling in the series, was unable to bowl, which further caused problems for England as they failed to press the advantage. The tenacity shown by Gill and Rahul was exemplary to say the least as the duo fought hard to keep India alive in the series.
It was indeed a monumental effort from both Indian batters as they played out two full sessions and almost shut the door for England. The imposing defiance saw England players drop shoulders, bereft of ideas to break the partnership. They had thrown everything at Gill and Rahul, but they had counter-punched with equal ferocity.
An unbroken partnership of 174 runs has given India a lot of hope to remain relevant in the series going into the 5th day. Though a lot of work still has to be done to save the Test match, the Indian fight is one to savour.
Read Quick, Read Better @ rizkhan.in
Visit Sports FACTory YouTube Channel