ENG vs IND 4th Test: Rohit Sharma hits maiden century away from home in Tests. While Cheteshwar Pujara 2.0 makes a useful impact too. However, Ollie Robinson’s 2nd new ball spell brought England to life.
Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara’s 153 runs partnership.
India started the day 43-0, With both batters continuing the overnight approach. KL Rahul was the aggressor to start on. Quickly finding his way into the ’40s.
However, James Anderson found some help from the pitch to swing the ball away from Rahul and eventually getting him caught behind. Anderson’s class is at another level. Brilliant bit of spell. India 83-1.
England making full use of the cloud cover which was not seen during England’s innings. Now, That is called luck.
Rohit Sharma was composed of playing a long inning. Some chances for England to get him out are gone begging. Rory Burns dropped Rohit twice in the innings. But, Rohit was up to everything.
He completed his maiden century in an away Test with a six-over-long-on of Moeen Ali. And what a time score maiden century, When India needed it the most.
Pujara 2.0 was at the crease, playing shots aggressively. Uppercut, Pull, Cuts, drives, all the shots were played by him. He was making superb use of the batting pitch. He reached his 50 with a boundary through the point region.
However, he was in some pain while batting. His ankle was not in perfect condition and it was twisted while taking a run.
New Ball does the trick for England.
The partnership was looking real dangerous for England. They were desperately hoping that the new ball will get them back and guess what, it did.
Ollie Robinson struck on the very first new ball delivery. Rohit Sharma trying to pull the ball, which stuck into the pitch and slowed down, was caught at deep square-leg boundary.
Robinson struck again in the same over to get rid of well-set Pujara. It was definitely Robinson’s wicket. Perfect ball for Pujara pitching just outside off swinging in for an inside edge to the pads to Ali at gully. Pujara playing on the back foot missed the swing. India 237-3.
Jadeja promoted again, looking solid this time.
Virat Kohli ( 22* from 37 balls, 4(4) ) had some oops moment at the start of his innings but he survived them. After getting settled he started his operations. Cover-drives were buttery smooth from Virat. That is what we are here to see. Don’t we?
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja ( 9* from 33 balls, 2(4) ) was again promoted to bat at number 5. He was looking solid with good footwork. It is a good opportunity for him to perform with the pitch being good for batting and the score is also somewhat stable.
Bad daylight stopped the last session and stumps were called off. Day 4’s first session will be crucial as we have seen India bundled away in the first sessions.
Bowling Figures: James Anderson: [ 23-8-49-1 ], Ollie Robinson: [ 21-4-67-2 ].
Watch ENG vs IND 4th Test, day 3 highlights, HERE.
