(Cricket news) India entered day 5 with 157 runs to win and 9 wickets in hand. Their pace quadrant once again ran supreme with a stellar display of classic seam bowling in typical English conditions. Jasprit Bumrah picked up 5 wickets to take his total match tally to 9.
Day 4 began with England still trailing in their second innings. Rory Burns and Dom Sibley this time around did hold on for a bit longer than the 1st innings. Virat Kohli chose Mohammed Siraj to partner Jasprit Bumrah in the opening spell ahead of the experienced Mohammed Shami. The decision worked wonders when Siraj got rid of Rory Burns who was looking the better of the two openers for 18. Zak Crawley scored a run a ball 6 runs before edging Bumrah's out-swinger straight into Rishabh Pant's gloves.
England's captain Joe Root responded to the responsibility he had with a magnificent 109 off 172 balls. Unfortunately for England wickets kept falling at the other end. Dom Sibley, Jonny Bairstow, Dan Lawrence and Jos Buttler all got off to decent starts but failed to accompany Root for a substantial amount of time.
By the 50th over the ball started generating some reverse swing. Shardul Thakur in particular used it to India's advantage. He deceived Buttler with a delivery pitched just outside off stump. Buttler didn't offer a shot but the ball nipped back towards the shinny inner side and hit the top of the off stump.
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Sam Curran provided good support to Root as the England captain completed his 21st test hundred. The partnership was going well until Jasprit Bumrah sent Root back in the first over of the 2nd new ball. Shami and Bumrah got rid of the tail in no time as England set a target of 209.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma once again gave India a steady start. Stuart Broad got his first wicket of the match by getting rid of KL Rahul in the 11th over. Cheteshwar Pujara walked in and was struggling to deal with the swinging ball but managed to hold on as India ended the day at 52/1.
With 9 wickets in hand and 157 runs to get, India are in pole position to get a dream start to the series with a win. After getting a full day of cricket with no interruptions, the weather forecast says that there will be a considerable amount of showers in Nottingham. If rain doesn't stop the play India will cruise to victory unless there is a major batting collapse.
Player of the day: Joe Root
The England captain undoubtedly has the responsibility of scoring the majority of the runs for his side. He adhered to the responsibility with a brilliant century under pressure. Joe Root played a classic Root innings by dominating the offside. Root had a shaky start in which he edged a few deliveries which didn't carry to the slip cordon. After settling in, Root started playing his strokes attacking almost every ball outside off. Root 'the batsman' has done everything that he can but Root 'the captain' will be very crucial if England have any chance to win this test match on day five.
