England resume bid to crush India and win series at Old Trafford

Telegraph

2 days ago

10:20AM
Hobbs and Root are England's greatest
Landmarks were ticked off at regular intervals by Joe Root on day three at Old Trafford in his ascent to the summit of the highest Test run-scorers.
In the morning session Root passed Rahul Dravid, of India,on 13,288 Test runs. He passed South Africa's Jacques Kallis, with all his technical perfection, on 13,289 runs, and thereby went into third place in the all-time list.
In the afternoon, Root watched his fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook run down the pitch and give his wicket away, the sort of donation that is given tax relief. Root put his head down, reached his 38th Test century, celebrated briefly then pressed on to 120, in order to overtake Australia's former captain Ricky Ponting and reach second place, behind the 200-Test Sachin Tendulkar alone on 15,921.
Just before tea, with a specimen of his signature stroke, the steer behind point, Root did it and Old Trafford rang with the boo-like sound of 'Rooooot!' The Yorkshireman is second among the highest Test run-scorers since the format was launched in 1877.
His only peer is Sir Jack Hobbs. Indeed, I could not separate Root and Hobbs at the top of the charts last October when I ranked the greatest 10 England batsmen of all time.
10:12AM
Weather outlook
According to the Met Office, it will be cloudy with a 30 per cent chance of rain from noon today, maximum temperature of 20C with the sun out in the hour before lunch and again from about 3pm.
10:02AM
Preview
Good morning and welcome to live coverage of the fourth day's play of England's fourth Test against India at Old Trafford which begins with Ben Stokes' side 186 runs ahead with three first-innings in hand and, with the captain himself at the crease, on the verge of clinching a victory that would secure the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Stokes starts on 77 and although he hasn't been as fluent as he has been at his best, often appearing as though he was batting with a chair leg, his bat all edges and toe, he must have his eye on a first Test century for two years to go with his first five-wicket return for eight years, cramp notwithstanding.
Given that the pitch is now betraying signs of uneven bounce, taking turn and England's batsmen have given their bowlers a long rest for the first time in ages, England may well be confident of wrapping up victory today. Rishabh Pant will probably try his boy stood on the burning deck act again but scoreboard pressure, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes will each fancy their chances of a wicket-taking spree on that pitch.
India, by contrast, are in a hole of their own making because of their pusillanimous selection policy that has become a dirty habit on tour, packing their batting to the detriment of their bowling It wasn't just the sidelining of Kuldeep for the entire tour but the way Shubman Gill underused his best bowler, Washington Sundar, yesterday, persevering with the dibbly Shardul Thakur and the dobbly Anshul Kamboj who between them share figures of 29-1-144-1. Left-arm leg-spinners are such rare, rare finds and to ignore one who has taken 56 Test wickets at 22 borders on the negligent. Perhaps Gill and his batsmen can dig the selectors out by batting for the best part of two days to keep the series alive but the odds, pitch and momentum are all against them.