India stumble in third Test victory chase after disastrous England batting collapse

The National

2 days ago

India stumbled badly in their third Test victory chase in the Lord's sunshine that had followed a disastrous batting collapse from England on Day 4 at Lord's on Sunday.
Having been skittled out for 192 in their second innings and looking all set to go 2-1 down in the five-Test series, England fought back with four late wickets to leave India needing 135 runs for victory on the final day.
England had won the opener at Headingley by five wickets before India fought back in style by securing a 336-run victory at Edghbaston.
And Washington Sundar, who took four wickets in England's second innings, remains confident India will compete the series turnaround before the teams head to Old Trafford on July 23.
'India will win, probably just after lunch,' insisted Washington. 'The position we're in we'd have differently taken. The fast bowlers kept the pressure on throughout the day, it was amazing.
'We expected a little bit of seam movement, a little bit of up and down. The plan was to not give out many runs as the fast bowlers were always going to be in play.
'All of my wickets were big wickets, which pleased me. Coming at that stage of play was heartening. The UK has been very heartening [with drift], I don't normally get that much in the subcontinent."
Ben Stokes' side looked set to pose India a fair trickier total as they reached 154-4 with Joe Root unbeaten on 40, only for the first-inning centurion to be bowled by Washington Sundar playing his favourite sweep shot.
The in-form Jamie Smith followed him to the pavilion less than four overs later when he was bowled by off-spinner Washington for just eight.
Crucially, captain Stokes followed just after tea, also bowled out trying to sweep Washington, leaving England in deep trouble on 181-7.
Jasprit Bumrah soon had his first wicket of the innings with a superb delivery, spearing in a delivery right in the blockhole to clean out Brydon Carse for one.
Another cracking delivery from pace-bowler Bumrah accounted for dangerous lower-order batter Chris Woakes by clipping the top of his stumps, before Washington knocked over by Washington as England were all out for 192, losing 6-31 either side of tea.
It meant England's last six wickets had come from batters being clean bowled as Washington finished with impressive figures of 4-22 off 12.1 overs with an economy rate of 1.80.
Fast-bowler Jofra Archer landed an early blow for England as he dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck after the Indian opener top edged high into the London sky where Jamie Smith was waiting for it to drop.
Chris Woakes then dropped KL Rahul off his own bowling at 28-1 but his batting partner Karun Nair was trapped plumb lbw by Brydon Carse for 18.
India's wobble became a full stumble when England's second-Test tormentor Shubman Gill was gone, struck on the knee roll three quarters up the middle stump by Carse with his team now 53-3.
The visiting captain was gone for six, having scored 16 in the first innings, a desperately disappointing effort following his 430 runs in the previous match at Edgbaston.
Then, with the final blow of a gripping day of Test cricket, Stokes splattered the stumps of night watch Akash Deep for one to leave India rocking at 48-4
KH Rahul, who scored exactly 100 in the first innings, is unbeaten on 33 but facing a potentially nervy Day 5.
'It was tricky, the ball is moving around but when the ball gets a little bit softer there is more runs to be had out there but if you get it enough in the right place it's very tricky,' said England batting coach Marcus Trescothick.
'We would have loved 250 and beyond but we would have taken 190 and our chance to bowl on that pitch and it'll come down to who holds the pressure best tomorrow.'
Earlier, England had resumed on 2-0 with Zak Crawley, who had angered India late Saturday with his time-wasting tactics, alongside opening partner Ben Duckett.
Duckett was out for 22 after pulling Mohammed Siraj to Bumrah at mid-on to leave England 22-1. Siraj then risked disciplinary action after yelling in Duckett's face, with both players in line to attract the attention of match referee Richie Richardson after making shoulder contact.
Ollie Pope (four), Crawley (22) and Harry Brook (23) fell cheaply before Root and Stokes produced a partnership of 67 which was broken by Washington, sparking England's collapse.