Leeds Test, Day 4: England come out unscathed after Rahul, Pant tons help India set 371-run target
New Delhi: England need 350 runs to win the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, when they will walk out to bat on the final day of the match at Headingley, Leeds. After bowling India out for 364 runs, Crawley and Duckett added 21 runs for the first wicket at the stumps on Day 4.
KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant smashed hundreds and forged a 195-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but the lower order struggled to score runs after the hosts took the second new ball. Earlier, After taking a slender six-run lead in the first innings, the visitors got off to a poor start as Brydon Carse removed Yashasvi Jaiswal on 4 runs. Sai Sudharsan got a good start but failed to convert it into a half-century while skipper Shubman Gill was dismissed by Carse in the first session on Day 4.
Pant and Rahul helped India recover from early blows and forged an outstanding partnership. The wicketkeeper-batter had a few nervy moments at the start of his innings, but batted with positive intent while Rahul also played with great composure and completed his 9th Test century. Rahul now holds the record for the most centuries by an Indian opener in Test matches in England, overtaking Rahul Dravid and the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who scored two Test hundreds each as openers on English soil.
Pant also smashed his eighth hundred in the longest format. He became the first Indian wicketkeeper to smash a hundred in each innings of a Test match. Pant is also the first Asian to hit centuries in both innings in England and the second wicketkeeper to hit two centuries in a Test match.
India suffer another collapse in Leeds TestThe Men in Blue suffered a collapse and lost six wickets for just 31 runs in the second innings. After Pant’s dismissal, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur failed to make any big contribution with the bat as England made a comeback in the match. Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse picked up three wickets each, while Shoaib Bashir took two wickets and Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes picked up one wicket each.
Team India also suffered a collapse in the first innings and only managed to score just 41 runs, losing seven wickets. The top five Indian batters scored 721 runs in the first Test, while the bottom six batters only added 65 runs in both innings of the match.