India vs England, 4th Test, Day 4: Shubman Gill, Dhruv Jurel drive India to a win & seal 12th series against England. India lead five match series by 3-1 with one more test to go.
Brief Scores: IND 307 (Jurel 90, Bashir 5/119) & 192/5 (Rohit 55, Gill 52*, Bashir 3/79) beat ENG 353 (Root 122*, Jadeja 4/58) & 145 (Crawley 60, Ashwin 5/51) by 5-wkts and lead the series 3-1.
Player of the Match: Dhruv Jurel (90 & 39*)
At 84/0, India were way ahead in the game. But England came back with five quick wickets to reduce them to 120/5. However, Dhruv Jurel and Shubman Gill held their nerve and carried India home with five wickets in hand thanks to their unbeaten 72-run sixth wicket stand. They now lead the series by a 3-1 margin.
India came into the fourth day of the fourth Test at the JSCA International Stadium Complex at 40/0. They still needed 152 runs more to seal the series against England, with one more test awaiting.
On a tough surface, it was India’s youngsters who carried them home. In the first innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel stepped up with two vital knocks under pressure. Even in the second innings, when they were in a spot of bother, it was Jurel and Shubman Gill who showed immense composition and determination to carry them over the line.
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Rohit’s fifty pushed strangling India to 118/3 at lunch; Hosts need 74 more runs for victory
From the start of the day, India took the aggressive route. Rohit Sharma helped James Anderson over long-on for a beautiful six, as Jaiswal opened the bat face to get a four against Shoaib Bashir in the third-man region. England drew the first blood when Jaiswal looked to smash the ball from the rough and found Anderson at backward point. Soon, Rohit celebrated his 17th Test fifty with a couple of runs.
Everything was going smoothly. However, against the run of play, India gifted England a huge wicket. Rohit (55) stepped out of the crease to defend Tom Hartley and gave an outside edge to the wicket-keeper. On the very next over, Rajat Patidar (0) got an inside edge as Ollie Pope moved to backward short-leg to grab a simple catch.
Ravindra Jadeja and Shubman Gill saw off the rest of the session to guide India to 118/3 at lunch. They still needed 74 runs for victory, with England still looking for seven more wickets.
Read More: IND vs ENG, 4th Test, Day 2: Bashir 4-84 stifles India to 219-7, hosts still 134 in arrears
Jurel-Gill carried India home with 5 wickets in hand; India lead series by 3-1
England began the session with the huge wicket of Jadeja, who chipped a full toss straight into the hands of Johnny Bairstow at the mid-wicket region. On the very next ball, Sarfaraz Khan, on the first ball, edged it to Pope at short leg. Suddenly, India found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 120/5. The crowd found their voice back when Dhruv Jurel drove Bashir for a four to end India’s wait for a boundary for almost 31 overs.
Both Jurel and Gill looked to be positive as they kept on rotating strikes. The shoulders slowly started to drop in the England camp. Jurel was terrific in using his feet and putting pressure on the opposition. They brought up their fifty-run partnership to settle the nerves. Gill used his feet for a straight six to take India close to victory.
He went for another six over deep square leg to celebrate his fifth Test fifty. Jurel pulled Hartley for a boundary before a couple of runs, taking them home with five wickets in hand. They’ve now taken an unbreakable lead of 3-1 margin the in the series.
What’s to come
After a nine-day break, both teams will meet for the last of the five match Test series on March 7 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.
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The 84-run stand between Rohit and Jaiswal is India’s fourth-highest opening partnership against England in the fourth innings of a home Test.
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Jaiswal with 655 runs equals Virat Kohli as the highest run-getter in a Test series between India and England.
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Jaiswal also joins Kohli as the second-highest run-getter (655) for India in a home Test series.
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Rohit’s 55-run knock was his highest score in the fourth innings of a Test match.
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The 72-run stand between Gill and Jurel is India’s second-highest sixth wicket stand in the fourth innings of a home Test against England.
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Since Jan 2013, this is just the second time India have successfully chased 150+ runs in the fourth innings of a home Test match.
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This is now India’s 12th Test series victory over England.
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