England
are facing their seventh Test defeat of the year after Virat Kohli's
double century ensured India dominated day four of the fourth Test in
Mumbai.
Kohli's 235 and 104 from number nine Jayant Yadav helped India amass a commanding 631, a lead of 231 runs.
England
- trailing 2-0 in the series - lost Keaton Jennings to the second ball
of the innings as they reached 182-6, needing 49 to make India bat
again.
Joe Root made 77 and Jonny Bairstow 50 not out, while Ben Stokes fell late on.
Nightwatchman
Jake Ball was caught behind off Ravichandran Ashwin off what proved out
to be the final ball of the day to leave India within sight of a third
successive comprehensive win over England.
"It was a dreadful day for England," said BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew.
"Spirited
batting by Root, Bairstow and Stokes tried to keep England's slender
hopes alive but, with the ball spinning almost unplayably, India are
firm favourites to win the game and the series tomorrow."
Alastair Cook made a century in the first Test at Rajkot, but he has only passed 50 once sinceAfter
182 overs and 14 hours in the field, England's batsmen faced a tough
task as they prepared to contend with Ashwin, the number one Test
bowler, on a pitch that was turning sharply.
Jennings, who made
112 on the first day, had spent much of India's innings fielding at
short leg and that weariness showed when he fell lbw to Bhuveneshwar
Kumar to his first ball.
It was the same for Alastair Cook, who
reviewed a clear lbw decision as he was dismissed for the fourth time in
the series by Ravindra Jadeja, before Moeen Ali edged the same bowler
to leg gully for a duck.
Root and Bairstow counter-attacked but
batting was always fraught as Jadeja and Ashwin got the ball to spin.
Root reverse swept his way to a half-century but was dismissed by Ashwin
as he moved back to a full ball.
And the late dismissals of
Stokes, caught via bat and pad at slip off Murali Vijay, and Ball in the
final over of the day surely ended any hopes England may have had of
saving the Test.
Kohli's brilliance thrills the crowd
Kohli
and Jayant attacked England's weary bowlers from the start of the day,
with Jayant thrashing Rashid for back-to-back boundaries, before
bringing up his maiden Test century.
He and Kohli put on 241, 146
of those coming in the morning session, before Jayant charged Rashid and
was stumped. He was dropped on eight late on Saturday - and by the time
he was dismissed, he had celebrated his maiden Test century.
Kohli
continued, rolling his wrists to rotate the strike, before bringing up
his 200 with a flick off his pads. He became more aggressive after
reaching the total, hitting Chris Woakes into the stands as India passed
600.
When he eventually fell for his highest Test score, caught
by James Anderson at deep extra cover, he was congratulated by the
England team as the 20,000-strong crowd gave him a standing ovation.
India's
lower order continued to play their shots, with Woakes going for 12
runs in an over before Bhuvneshwar Kumar was caught in the deep to end
India's innings.
"It's been another masterclass from Virat Kohli but Jayant Yadav looks a tremendous cricketer," Vaughan said.
No comments:
Post a Comment