India vs England: Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin Lead India's Fightback on Day 4

Day 4 belonged to India but after being behind England for the first three days of the series opener in Chennai, the home team find themselves with an uphill task in order to save the match. The fightback was led by Washington Sundar and R Ashwin who put together 80 for the seventh-wicket before the latter showed his class with the ball picking 6 wickets at his home ground dismantling England for 178. India, chasing a mammoth 420, had moved to 39 for the loss of the huge wicket of Rohit Sharma who failed to get going in both innings of the match.

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The day resumed with India in deep trouble at 257 for 6 but the local boys, Sundar and Ashwin chipped away into the England total batting out time and precious overs defying the opposition attack. They were positive in the first hour of play hitting seven majestic boundaries through cover and straight drives in the first 10 overs itself. Sundar soon registered his second fifty in just his second Test - an innings worthy of a top-order batsman. He slowed down after the second new ball was taken in order to prolong the Indian innings but again pushed on the accelerator post Ashwin's dismissal.

The pair added an invaluable 80 off 178 deliveries - the highest partnership in terms of balls faced in the innings. They had shown stubborn resistance for almost a session of play which could be crucial in the final analysis of the match. What they also did was make England sweat in the field for 95 odd overs which forced the visitors to not enforce the follow-on. Sundar remained undefeated on a magnificent 85 off 138 deliveries as India were bowled out for 337. He had scored 85 of the 145 team runs (58.62%) from the time he had come out to bat.

England came out in the second innings in pursuit of quick runs but their plans were thwarted by Ashwin, who opened the bowling for India with the red cherry. This was a masterstroke by Virat Kohli as the off spinner removed Rory Burns off the first ball of the innings before getting rid of Dom Sibley in the 11th over. Skipper Joe Root made his intentions clear from the word go. He was playing the role of the aggressor while the other batsmen played around him.

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Ishant Sharma became the third Indian pacer after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan to reach the milestone of 300 Test wickets when he saw the back of Dan Lawrence in the 16th over of the innings. Root continued to attack and top-scored for England with 40 off 32 deliveries including seven boundaries. However the tourists kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Ashwin ran through their line-up.

It was baffling to see Root not declare the innings even when the lead had crossed 350. England were a touch defensive and obviously wanted to be safe before asking India to bat again. They would have had 2008 (Sehwag in Chennai) and more recently India's great chase at The Gabba in mind. Ashwin returned with 6-61 from 17.3 overs as the visitors were bowled out for 178 in just under 47 overs.

India, in pursuit of 420, lost the one man who had the potential to do a Sehwag - Rohit Sharma was foxed and castled by a peach of a delivery from Jack Leach which left the right-hander and hit the off stump. Shubman Gill and the New Wall of India, Cheteshwar Pujara ensured there was no further damage as the hosts ended the penultimate day at 39 for 1 in 13 overs. They need another 381 to pull off another incredible heist on Tuesday. But more realistically need to bat out 90 overs on a turning and crumbling Day 5 Chepauk wicket to save the match.

If India did pull it off it would be the highest successful chase in Test cricket history! A fascinating last day awaits.

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• Cheteshwar Pujara
• Dom Bess
• India vs England
• India vs England 2021
• Jack Leach
• Joe Root
• R Ashwin
• rohit sharma
• Washington Sundar