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Day four reportShare
I’ve been waiting for an interview, perhaps with Chris Woakes, who took both the wickets to fall in this innings in the space of two balls. But there’s nothing doing: maybe England’s bowlers are too tired to talk.
So that’s it from us. Thanks for your company, correspondence and views on which cricketers should appear on bank notes. Do join us tomorrow to see if England can beat India and the Manchester weather.
“Great question from Kim Thonger,” says Will Scott, picking up on the 50th over. “For £100, surely it’s the Guardian’s own scorer of 100 first-class centuries, Mark Ramprakash.
“I’d like to see RavBop on a fiver. Always underestimated, always a joy to chance upon it, like glancing at the PSL scorecards to see him making hay again.”
“India batting,” says Jeff Spencer, crisply. “Shades of Dravid and VVS here.”
Updated at 13.40 EDT
Stumps: India hold firm
63rd over: India 174-2 (Rahul 87, Gill 78) It’s Root to bowl the last over of the day. And suddenly it’s all happening: a misfield from Archer, a misfield from Carse (costing a single apiece), and a sore knee for Rahul as Root surprises him with a quicker one. But Rahul and Gill survive. After coming together in the tightest of tight corners at 0-2, they have added 174 and mounted a magnificent rearguard. Gill is back in form, albeit being defensive, and Rahul is just batting as he has all series, with serene solidity.
England still lead by 137 runs, but they look weary and thanks to a dodgy hamstring Ben Stokes is having to manage without his best bowler – Ben Stokes. He completed a big hundred today, as England batted on and on to their highest score at Old Trafford, but he might prefer to have made 90 and stayed fit.
Updated at 13.39 EDT
62nd over: India 172-2 (Rahul 86, Gill 77) Dawson now has an attacking but funk-free field, as far as I can see – slip, backward short leg, silly point. He beats Gill outside off with the first ripper we’ve seen for ages… and collects another maiden.
61st over: India 172-2 (Rahul 86, Gill 77) Stokes has been careful not to overbowl his seamers while he himself can’t bowl. He reaches for the back of his thigh. Woakes gives way to Root, who has a gift for Rahul – a full toss, ease down the ground for four. Rahul celebrates by swapping his helmet for a cap, giving the crowd a better view of his luxuriant locks.
60th over: India 165-2 (Rahul 81, Gill 75) Dawson is still at it, wheeling away, but getting very little help from a pitch that really should be turning by now (fourth day, Old Trafford, dry summer). He adds another maiden to his collection to make it 21-7-36-0. I suspect Stokes would happily swap that for 21-0-136-2.
59th over: India 165-2 (Rahul 81, Gill 75) Woakes, with Jamie Smith standing up, hits Rahul on the glove. Rahul takes the opportunity, Zak Crawley style, to waste a little time, before playing a cut shot with no apparent discomfort. The day appears to be drawing peacefully to a close.
“Moeen Ali on the fiver?” says Andy Richards. “He finished with five Test centuries and five five-fors.”
58th over: India 164-2 (Rahul 80, Gill 75) Dawson changes ends: no rest for the dogged. The first ball is drifting into Gill’s pads, so he helps himself to a glance for four. After that it’s back to square none.
57th over: India 160-2 (Rahul 80, Gill 71) After spending four hours in the slow lane, Rahul suddenly puts his foot down. He takes ten off this over from Woakes – a glide for four, a glance for two, a cut for four more. Where’s Stokes the bowler when Stokes the captain is crying out for him?
56th over: India 150-2 (Rahul 70, Gill 71) Joe Root, perhaps smarting at my description of him just now, bowls a maiden to Gill.
“Spin options,” says Colum Fordham. “Nice to see Liam Dawson get a proper bowl and put himself in contention for the Ashes. He’s bowling guilefully on an unfavourable pitch. Obviously Bashir should be fit by then but I’d say Rehan Ahmed must be on the selectors’ minds after his heroics against Derbyshire. And a leg-spinner could be useful Down Under.” Yes – though visiting spinners don’t tend to have much joy in Australia, unless their name is Graeme Swann and their captain is Andrew Strauss.
ShareThe 150 partnership!
55th over: India 150-2 (Rahul 70, Gill 71) Dawson takes a well-earned rest. He hasn’t got the breakthrough but he’s given Stokes control: his figures are like something from the 1960s, 19-6-32-0. On comes Chris Woakes, to use the crease, Ricky Ponting notes, and aim for the knee roll. Rahul steers for two to bring up the 150 partnership off 54.1 overs. Also old-school.
“@ Kim Thonger (50th over),” writes Brian Rafferty. “From across the Pennines it has to be a young Anderson with his red hair.”
54th over: India 148-2 (Rahul 68, Gill 71) Stokes takes Carse off and summons Root. As an off-spinner, he can come round the wicket and still demand a stroke. As a part-timer, though, he’s less consistent than Dawson, and the batters help themselves to four singles.
53rd over: India 144-2 (Rahul 66, Gill 69) Dawson continues and Stokes gets even funkier, sending Pope into a position that may have to be called stupid gully. He is so close to the bat that he’s on his knees, as Popes often are.
ShareGill reaches a thousand!
52nd over: India 142-2 (Rahul 65, Gill 68) It’s still Carse, banging it in, finding no joy. Nothing is happening … except that Shubman Gill has now faced 1000 balls in the series. KL Rahul really needs to get his act together: he hasn’t even got to 950.
51st over: India 139-2 (Rahul 63, Gill 67) Stokes gives Dawson a funky field – silly point, semi-silly mid-off, mildly frivolous short extra. Dawson, varying his pace nicely, thinks he’s got Gill LBW, but there was an inside edge.
Updated at 12.45 EDT
50th over: India 138-2 (Rahul 62, Gill 67) Carse goes back over the wicket. Rahul keeps on pulling if the ball is below his chin, playing no stroke if it’s higher.
“Bonsoir Tim,” says Kim Thonger. “We are having a debate here about, if we had a choice, which English cricketer’s face should feature on our bank notes if redesigned.
“I’ve been laying out the case for David Gower wearing flying goggles on the £100 note. Not much pushback. It just feels right.” Ha.
“But as to the other notes, we’ve hit a wall. Nobody can agree. Shall we throw it open to the OBO?
“For what it’s worth, if Yorkshire had its own currency Brian Close is winning over Boycott and Root. Indestructibility has won the day.”
Updated at 12.42 EDT
49th over: India 136-2 (Rahul 61, Gill 66) Still nothing doing: just a single off Dawson’s over.
Here’s Paul Moody in Aracati, Brazil. “I find myself hoping,” he says, “India can scratch around and get a draw, though of course they are only a few wickets away from a collapse… Would set up a tense day tomorrow and also the 5th Test. What do you think? Been a great series.”
Draw? Part of me is hoping that India win this one, inspired by Rishabh Pant hobbling out and hitting 200 before lunch.
Updated at 12.37 EDT
48th over: India 135-2 (Rahul 61, Gill 65) Archer is taken off after bowling four overs for 22, which I think was his first indifferent spell of the match. On comes Carse, starting off round the wicket, so the bumper policy is still in place. Rahul plays a stylish pull for no run as it goes to Jacob Bethell, the 12th man, who is an outstanding fielder.
47th over: India 133-2 (Rahul 61, Gill 64) Dawson goes back round the wicket and looks more at home, but the batters aren’t bothered. England are now hoping for some reverse swing, as Zak Crawley shows by throwing the ball in on the second bounce and getting a ticking-off for his trouble.
One of the pleasures of this job is the way the readers will come up with a line you wish you’d thought of yourself. “Am I missing something,” says Adam Roberts, “or are these two playing for a draw in a match they have to win?”
ShareDrinks: Rahul and Gill still there
46th over: India 131-2 (Rahul 60, Gill 63) Archer carries on with the barrage. He has four fielders on the legside waiting for the catch, but Rahul calmly middles a pull and gets four for it. He adds a single and briefly overtakes Gill, who, 25 overs ago, was ahead by 45-20. Archer, possibly tiring of this ploy, goes full and wide outside off to Gill and gets driven for four. Adnd that’s drinks, with the batters asserting themselves again after a spell of attrition.
45th over: India 122-2 (Rahul 55, Gill 59) Dawson tries going over the wicket to Gill, who knows he can pad the ball away if it lands outside leg stump. So that’s what he does. Dawson must be hoping for an explosion out of the rough, which doesn’t come in this over. He has a conference with Stokes, presumably to discuss going straight back to plan A.
44th over: India 122-2 (Rahul 55, Gill 59) Archer resumes bowling bouncers at 85-87 mph. Rahul gets in a tangle, then in two minds (to pull or not to pull), but soon adjusts, stays leg-side and guides the next bumper for four past gully. Old ball, flat pitch, big stand: how Stokes the captain could do with Stokes the bowler.
43rd over: India 118-2 (Rahul 51, Gill 59) Rahul steers Dawson for a single to reach yet another fifty. It’s been a vigil, coming off 141 balls, containing only three fours, and perfectly suiting India’s predicament. They still trail by 193 runs.
Updated at 12.06 EDT
42nd over: India 115-2 (Rahul 49, Gill 58) Rahul, facing Archer, goes back and has plenty of time to glide past the slips for four. When the next ball goes for four byes, Stokes, unimpressed, tells Archer to bomb the batters and sends the fielders out. Broad reckons Stokes is doing this to get Archer fired up.
Updated at 12.06 EDT
41st over: India 104-2 (Rahul 42, Gill 58) Dawson draws an edge from Gill, but it squirts out safely enough. Before that, Rahul pushed into the covers and went for a quick single. Stokes took a shy at the stumps, without the lethal accuracy he summoned at Lord’s, and only a superb instinctive stop by Harry Brook at slip prevented some overthrows.
40th over: India 102-2 (Rahul 41, Gill 57) With Dawson in this parsimonious groove, Stokes can rotate the seamers from the other end. Woakes gets a break now as Archer returns. He’s accurate but not threatening, and Rahul picks up two with a dab. An English voice on the stump microphone says, “The scoreboard’s going nowhere, boys.”
ShareHundred partnership!
39th over: India 100-2 (Rahul 39, Gill 57) In a sudden flurry of runs, each batter takes a single off Dawson. The second brings up India’s 100, and therefore the 100 partnership too: quite something when you come together at 0-2. Rahul dropped anchor, and Gill, after a rapid start, seems to have decided it should be anchors all round.
Updated at 11.48 EDT
38th over: India 98-2 (Rahul 38, Gill 56) Woakes continues, to Rahul, and clocks up another maiden. “I’d be looking to use the leg-cutter on this surface,” Stuart Broad says, “to see if it grips.”
Meanwhile my suggestion that Don’t Look Back In Anger is Manchester’s unofficial anthem has not found favour with Mark Dawson. “No, can’t possibly be DLBIA,” he says, although his subject line says “official”, not unofficial.
“Not a good song at all albeit fine for a beery shoutalong. Love Will Tear Us Apart, Kinky Afro, I Am The Resurrection would be my (southern) selections.”
37th over: India 98-2 (Rahul 38, Gill 56) Dawson continues and ruins his figures by conceding a single. Two members of the ground staff come on with a broom and shovel to make some repairs to … not the bowlers’ footmarks, but the batters’, deep inside the crease. Very hospitable.
“Stokes defensive?” says Jeremy Boyce. “Don’t you think he’s betting on the fact that these two can’t last forever (or can they?) and that, without forcing, a wicket will come. One brings two, Pant is knacked … Antithesis to Bazball, i think he’s playing the long game. Especially IF he’s done his hamstring again.” Yes, he is playing the long game, but with a fair amount of rain forecast for tomorrow, is that wise?
Updated at 11.41 EDT
36th over: India 96-2 (Rahul 37, Gill 55) Gill has been standing outside his crease to Woakes, to negate any swing. Now Jamie Smith comes up to the stumps, to stop that and perhaps to murmur some sweet nothings in his ear. Gill, unperturbed, takes a single with a tuck to leg. Woakes is asking the right questions with a tight line, but doing so sedately enough to give the batters time to find the answers.
India’s captain Shubman Gill. Photograph: Jon Super/APShare
Updated at 11.57 EDT
35th over: India 95-2 (Rahul 37, Gill 54) Dawson to Rahul: yet another maiden. “Just two runs,” says Mike Atherton, “from the last five overs.”
An interesting point here from Alisdair Gould. “This success could be detrimental to England’s long-term interest,” he argues. “I really feel two to four places in the team should be discussed: Woakes and Pope, then Bashir and Crawley. They have had opportunities but there may be better choices. Success and injury have postponed renewal yet again? Does no one feel the same way?”
Updated at 11.40 EDT
34th over: India 95-2 (Rahul 37, Gill 54) It’s Woakes’s turn to keep Gill quiet. Gill, who raced to 45 off his first 52 balls, has crept along since with nine off 44.
33rd over: India 94-2 (Rahul 36, Gill 54) Dawson keeps Gill quiet and adds another maiden to his collection. Stokes seems content to contain: for such an attacking captain, having just a slip and a gully, with nobody at bat-pad, may be erring on the safe side.
Updated at 11.25 EDT
32nd over: India 94-2 (Rahul 36, Gill 54) Woakes, who is a medium-pacer these days, somehow manages to rattle Gill with a bouncer that thuds into his shoulder as he tries to pull. Maybe he was beaten for lack of pace.
31st over: India 93-2 (Rahul 36, Gill 53) Liam Dawson has a go from the Statham end and almost gets through Rahul’s formidable defences. It’s an arm ball that hurries into Rahul as he goes back and tries to flick to leg, but he gets a thick edge and just avoids playing on. Dawson picks up another maiden: he has 9-4-17-0.
When Rahul hit that three off Woakes in the previous over, Stokes had to chase it and he looked fairly sore. Has his hamstring gone again?
30th over: India 93-2 (Rahul 36, Gill 53) Woakes runs in from the end named after the bowler he often resembles, Jimmy Anderson. Rahul, untroubled, plays a square push for two and a cover drive for three. The crowd decide it’s time for a bit of Manchester’s unofficial anthem, Don’t Look Back In Anger.
Updated at 11.11 EDT
The players are back out there. Stokes sends for Chris Woakes, the bowler of the day so far, to see if he can find some more magic.
ShareTea: Gill’s fifty, India’s session
29th over: India 86-2 (Rahul 30, Gill 52) Gill likes the look of Root’s off-breaks and clips for three to go to fifty off 77 balls with eight fours. After a gargantuan feast, and a three-innings famine, he’s found his appetite again. And India, after their disastrous morning, have had a restorative afternoon, losing no more wickets. They trail by 225 runs and may still go down to a heavy defeat, but their captain and senior batter have shown grit and skill in a tight corner.
Updated at 10.49 EDT
28th over: India 82-2 (Rahul 29, Gill 49) Dawson bowls at the stumps, Rahul defends them with his life. That’s a maiden and it unfolds with a Jadeja-like briskness, so England will squeeze one more over in before tea. Joe Root steps up to bowl it.
27th over: India 82-2 (Rahul 29, Gill 49) Another good testing over from Carse, and India have made only 22 off the last ten. Stuart Broad, studying the replays of Dawson’s drop, wonders if his mistake was opting to dive when he may not have needed to. Gill’s square drive went fast: it was heading for the top corner and Dawson tipped it over the bar like a stocky version of Hannah Hampton.
26th over: India 81-2 (Rahul 28, Gill 49) Dawson almost redeems himself with a lovely ball to Rahul – the classic slow left-armer’s delivery, pitching on off and straightening, but missing the edge. Before that, Rahul played a sweep for three, so this is a good contest.
25th over: India 76-2 (Rahul 24, Gill 48) Carse keeps up the pressure, beating Rahul again outside off. And then he has Gill dropped by Dawson at deep gully – a hard chance but one that a good fielder like Dawson might expect to cling on to. If England had had a taller man there, he would have found it easier.
“Thanks to the wonders of modern technology,” says Jim Denvir, “I’m watching this from 11.5km above sea level on a flight from Heathrow to Philadelphia. If I’d known ahead of time that this was available, I’d have booked the earlier flight and made the family get up at 6 so I could while away the whole transatlantic leg of the trip enjoying the cricket. As it is, it’ll be stumps about three hours before we land.” No offence, but is that a bit of a first-world problem?
”This is just incredible stuff from England. I’ve been watching Test cricket on and off for about 40 years (there was a gap after I moved to the States 30+ years ago and it simply wasn’t available to me for a while), but it’s hard to remember a time when watching England play was this enjoyable.”
Updated at 10.31 EDT
24th over: India 69-2 (Rahul 22, Gill 45) Dawson drops short again, but gets away with it as Rahul’s cut goes straight to the cover sweeper. Gill, meanwhile, is becalmed: after making 45 off his first 52 balls, he made none at all off the last 14. Not that it will bother him.
23rd over: India 68-2 (Rahul 21, Gill 45) Carse bowls a big inswinger to Gill and has an LBW shout turned down. The fielders get excited and Brook persuades Stokes to review, quite wrongly – it’s doing too much and on the high side too. But it’s another impressive over from Carse: Stokes is getting good value out of his change bowlers.
22nd over: India 67-2 (Rahul 20, Gill 45) Dawson, with a slip and a short leg, bowls full enough and straight enough to restrict Gill to classical defence. Another maiden.
The Sky director finds a clip from the previous over, showing Harry Brook and Ben Duckett, in the slips, sharing a hug. I wonder (a) what it was all about and (b) how many other times it has happened in England’s history, celebrations aside.
21st over: India 67-2 (Rahul 20, Gill 45) Stokes gives Archer a breather, so, at three overs, this spell has been even shorter than his first. He hands over to Carse, who has been workmanlike in this series except for that wonder spell on the Sunday evening at Lord’s, when he had some help from the light. This over is a good one, a maiden that draws a play-and-miss from Rahul.
20th over: India 67-2 (Rahul 20, Gill 45) After finding his length, Dawson mislays it again, allowing Gill to cut for four and two. England can afford it.
19th over: India 61-2 (Rahul 20, Gill 39) Archer to Rahul, who meets stylish accuracy with steely defence. A maiden to Archer, whose figures were not ruined by that pair of fours from Gill: 7-2-18-0.
The commentators discuss Stokes. “He’s been England’s best bowler,” says Ian Ward, only to find Dinesh Karthik trumping him: “I’d go so far as to say the best bowler on either sidethroughout the series.”
Updated at 10.20 EDT
18th over: India 61-2 (Rahul 20, Gill 39) Dawson finds high length, lets Rahul have a single and then keeps Gill quiet.
Typical Stokes – he takes England’s only five-for of the series and promptly demotes himself to fifth bowler.
17th over: India 60-2 (Rahul 19, Gill 39) Archer continues. He goes full, looking for the lavish swing he found before lunch, but it’s not there as Gill plays one of his sumptuous cover drives. When Archer responds with an 88mph lifter, Gill is ready with an upper cut for four more. He is managing to bat as if he’s not the captain. You could argue that, for much of England’s massive innings, he showed why he shouldn’t be.
16th over: India 51-2 (Rahul 18, Gill 31) Ben Stokes decides it’s time for spin, so here is Liam Dawson, who, without setting the Test alight, has made England better in every department. Four off the over as he starts by dropping a bit short.
Thanks Rob and afternoon everyone. Only two people have lasted longer than Joe Root in this series, and they’re both at the crease now. Root has faced more than 700 balls, KL Rahul more than 800, Shubman Gill more than 900. To drag India back into this game, all Rahul and Gill need to do is go way past 1000.
Updated at 09.51 EDT
Drinks
15th over: India 47-2 (Rahul 17, Gill 28) Archer changes ends to replace Woakes. Rahul leans into a full ball, only just wide of off stump, and times it through the covers for a couple. His batting, full of serenity and class, has been one of the joys of this series: as I type he has made 438 runs at 62.57.
That’s drinks. Time for me to hand over to the great Tim de Lisle for the rest of the day.
Updated at 09.44 EDT
14th over: India 45-2 (Rahul 15, Gill 28) Four singles and a no-ball from Carse’s over. The last of those runs was flicked wide of short leg by Rahul. It was in the air for a while, with a bit of excitement among the England fielders, but Rahul had everything under control.