Key events
That’s all for today. Daniel and Taha will be on duty for what could be a classic final day; I’ll leave you with our report from Headingley. Ta-ra!
KL Rahul’s reaction
I think it’s a perfect day-five wicket for us to bowl on but it’ll be a very interesting game. There’s a blockbuster finish waiting tomorrow.
It was a beautiful batting wicket at the start of the match and I thought it would move towards a draw. But it has started to play tricks and Jadeja will play a part tomorrow.
[On his form] I’ve put in a lot of work behind the scenes with my coach Abhishek Nayar. I’m back to hitting a lot of balls in the nets and I’m really enjoying that.
[How the hell do you average mid-30s in Test cricket] Of course it hurts me a lot. But I don’t really want to get into the numbers – I’ve never really looked at averages or the number of runs. I want to make an impact for the team, do my best, enjoy my cricket. I love playing Test cricket and I’ve been blessed with opportunities.
Someone’s gonna win tomorrow. It’ll be an interesting day. The wicket’s not as easy to bat on as it was in the first innings so England won’t find it as easy to hit the ball on the rise and take their chances.
That gives us an opportunity and we know that, even if they have a big partnership, a couple of wickets will put us right back in the game. We’ll put them under pressure, suffocate them a bit and see what they come up with.
Stumps
6th over: England 21-0 (Crawley 12, Duckett 9) Ravindra Jadeja is coming on to bowl, a clever idea that Michael Vaughan was advocating on TMS. He gets through his overs so quickly that it increases the chances of Bumrah getting another before the close.
England milk three singles… and take just long enough to ensure that will be the final over of another compelling day. They will resume in the morning with all four results on the table, five if you include no result due to a surprise apocalypse. England need 350 more runs, India need 10 wickets.
5th over: England 18-0 (Crawley 11, Duckett 7) Bumrah goes around the wicket to Duckett, who inside edges the ball onto his thigh and takes the opportunity to waste a few seconds by limping around.
Eventually Duckett takes guard and leaves a third delivery from Bumrah in this innings. Of all the compliments paid to Jasprit Bumrah in the last few years, Duckett leaving three of his first six deliveries is right up there.
Bumrah tightens his line as a result. Duckett pushes him straight for two and then clips three through midwicket. Terrific cricket, this, a subtle arm-wrestle ahead of the main action tomorrow.
4th over: England 13-0 (Crawley 11, Duckett 2) Crawley leans into a wide delivery from Siraj and smashes it just short of the man in the covers. It would have taken some catching had it carried.
Crawley continues to go after Siraj, clipping a stylish boundary through midwicket before carting the next ball over backward point. Siraj responds with a nipbacker that hits Crawley in an intimate area, or at least the vicinity thereof. Excellent cricket.
3rd over: England 4-0 (Crawley 3, Duckett 1) Duckett leaves his second delivery as well, this time without alarm, before getting off the mark with a single behind square.
Bumrah is trying to make Crawley as often as possible. For now Crawley is doing it well, defending solidly on the front foot. A quiet start to the innings, at least in terms of runs and wickets.
2nd over: England 3-0 (Crawley 3, Duckett 0) Siraj shares the new ball, with two slips and a gully in place for Crawley. Both blow volcanic and glacial, so pretty much anything is possible here. Even a maiden. Siraj’s line is tight, so is Crawley’s defence. Nothing happened but that was a quality over from both players.
1st over: England 3-0 (Crawley 3, Duckett 0) There’s so much pressure on Zak Crawley, who has reached only 30 in one of his last 12 innings, the century against Zimbabwe last month. He shows good judgement outside off stump, then flicks two off the pads and pushes a single into the off side.
Duckett has one ball to survive at the end of the over. He leaves it, and he won’t be making that mistake again because it cut back sharply and didn’t miss off stump by all that much.
I’d tell you who is going to bowl India’s first over, but I don’t want to insult your intelligence.
Here come the England openers. In theory there are 17 overs remaining tonight; in reality we’ll get six or seven. Any fewer than that and England will probably be at sixes and sevens, as it’ll mean time has been lost due to the fall of wickets.
Anyone for rabbit pie?
“Think it’s worth mentioning with all this rabbit pie talk that in Josh Tongue’s only Test against Australia his five wickets were Khawaja, Warner twice and Smith twicee,” says Andy Richards. “In the first innings 2 of his 4 were Pant and Jadeja who aren’t exactly bunnies either. I think some folk are confusing what was a fast 7 wicket collapse with ‘mopping up the tail’. Don’t want the lad to get an unfair reputation based off of one match is all!”
Yep, fair point. I think “rabbit pie” was used affectionately by everyone; certainly nobody doubts how good Tongue is when he gets it right. The other thing is that England have needed a lover of rabbit pie for, well, about as long as I can remember. If Tongue can harass the best players and bulldoze the lower order, he’ll play a lot of Test cricket.
WICKET! India 364 all out (Krishna c Tongue b Bashir 0)
Josh Tongue doesn’t even need to be bowling to dismiss tailenders. Krishna smashes Bashir high in the air and Tongue takes a superbly judged catch at deep midwicket.
That wicket is probably a blessing in disguise for India, as it means Jasprit Bumrah will get at least three overs tonight. England need 371 to win after inducing another lower-order collapse from India. In the first innings India lost the last seven wickets for 41 runs; today it was the last six for 31.
95th over: India 363-9 (Jadeja 24, Krishna 0) This time Jadeja nails a big shot, clattering Tongue into the crowd at midwicket. A fast-handed hook round the corner makes it 10 from two balls, and as usual he gets a single to keep strike. Useful runs, these, although I still think India should declare now and give England 35 minutes against Jasprit Bumrah. They lead by 369.
94th over: India 352-9 (Jadeja 13, Krishna 0) Jadeja picks Woakes up towards deep square, where Duckett just can’t get his hands under the ball as he dives forward. He may have seen it late; Ravi Shastri in the commentary box thought so.
“I think I was happier with being batted out of contention,” writes Luke Dealtrry. “Much, much worse to have an ‘achievable’ target, yes?”
Are we still talking about the cricket here?
93rd over: India 351-9 (Jadeja 12, Krishna 0) Jadeja slashes Tongue on the bounce to Brook, who didn’t pick the ball up straight away from his position on the third boundary. Krishna again survives the last two balls, so the stalemate continues.
92nd over: India 350-9 (Jadeja 11, Krishna 0) Nobody knows for sure who is winning, even late on day four, and there’s a slightly strange atmosphere as a result. There’s an argument that it’s better for India to be bowled out now, and better for England to not take the tenth wicket just yet.
Jadeja mistimes a shot off Woakes and then takes a single off the fourth ball. Krishna is beaten by a beauty and leaves the last ball. India lead by 356.
91st over: India 349-9 (Jadeja 10, Krishna 0) Jadeja declines a single when Krishna knocks the ball into the off side, which means that’s a triple-wicket maiden from Tongue. Nom nom nom.
WICKET! India 349-9 (Bumrah b Tongue 0)
The hat-trick ball is full, straight and defended by Bumrah – but Tongue makes it three wickets in four balls when Bumrah hacks the next ball onto the stumps. Rabbit pie is on the menu again!
WICKET! India 349-8 (Siraj c Smith b Tongue 0)
Josh Tongue is on a hat-trick! Siraj, promoted above Bumrah, wears a nasty short ball on the glove and is caught down the leg side by Smith.
Siraj walks off wringing his right hand. That was fine, hostile bowling from Tongue – and now he has Jasprit Bumrah’s right hand in his sights.
WICKET! India 349-7 (Thakur c Root b Tongue 4)
Shardul Thakur’s miserable match continues with a snicked drive that is beautifully taken by Joe Root at first slip. Josh Tongue has his first wicket of the innings and his fifth of the match.
90th over: India 349-6 (Jadeja 10, Thakur 4) Jadeja feels for a near-perfect outswinger from Woakes and is beaten. The rest of the over passes without incident, and indeed runs. A maiden.
89th over: India 349-6 (Jadeja 10, Thakur 4) Josh Tongue, on for Carse, overpitches to Jadeja and is punished for four through mid-on. Nice shot.
Still an hour and 20 minutes left tonight; my hunch is that India will bat for half that time and then declare.
“I don’t have any glazier friends myself, but I do have one who considers herself a radical linguist,” says Billy Ditchburn. “When I tried to persuade her that all language is metaphor, she just smirked and said ‘that’s horsesh1t’. Regarding the cricket, I can see it being a draw, not simply in the sense of there not being an acknowledged winner, but also because it sounds like an engaging contest that would entice people to come and watch it unfold. I mean, I can’t actually ‘see’ that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if those two circumstances were to be enacted.”
88th over: India 344-6 (Jadeja 5, Thakur 4) Jadeja plays drop and run on the off side. It looks tight at first, but Thakur is home before Bashir’s throw flashes past the stumps.
Sensible cricket from Jadeja and Thakur, who have scored four singles in each of the last two overs. India lead by 350.
87th over: India 340-6 (Jadeja 3, Thakur 2) Jadeja and Thakur take no risks in that Carse over. Their relative caution is a compliment to England, even if, as Jeremy Boyce said in the last over, it’s been a while since one of their mad fourth-innings chases. Lord’s 2023 is the last time England scored 300 batting last, and that was in defeat.
86th over: India 335-6 (Jadeja 2, Thakur 0) “Take your point about Indian players with 2022 Edgbaston on their minds, but let’s not forget that it was the Bazball #1 era, with JB in his pomp, and they were on a roll, chasing down any total you cared to set them,” says Jeremy Boyce. “But here we are in Bazball #2 era, and we will see presently whether things have really changed.
“One thing is that England do not really have momentum at the moment, and I’m sure they’d love to create some here. In both cases the pressure is/was on, needing to square or take the initiative in a five-Test series. Personally I’d be happier to go down with guns firing than playing for an unlikely draw v Bumrah and his support crew.”
I didn’t make a judgement, I just said it would be in their minds! Mind you, I think it would be less astonishing for England to chase 378 here than it was in 2022. I know they had their eye in after the New Zealand series that year but I doubt anyone outside the dressing-room gave them a prayer of chasing 378 against Bumrah, Shami, Siraj and Jadeja.
That said, it felt like a one-off Test – even though it was an extension of the 2021 series – so maybe there was less pressure on England than there will be here.
WICKET! India 335-6 (Nair ct and b Woakes 20)
Karun Nair checks a drive back at Woakes, who takes a tough return catch with almost nonchalant ease. Nair stands motionless for a good five seconds, trying to process what happened, before dragging himself off the field.
India lead by 341. Surely England aren’t up to their old fourth-innings tricks again?
85th over: India 334-5 (Nair 20, Jadeja 0) Carse goes up for LBW when Jadeja walks across and misses a flick to leg. Paul Reiffel says not out and Ben Stokes eventually decides not to review; it was probably swinging past leg stump and might have bounced over the top as well. But it was another fine delivery from Carse, who has been a consistent threat in the second innings.
WICKET! India 333-5 (Rahul b Carse 137)
The end of a masterpiece. Rahul tries to force Carse off the back foot, is surprised by the bounce and drags the ball down onto his stumps. He walks off to a standing ovation after an innings that all the great Yorkshire openers of yesteryear would have been proud to play: 137 from 247 balls, with 18 fours and dozens of immaculately judged leaves.
84th over: India 331-4 (Rahul 137, Nair 19) Rahul opens the face to glide Woakes for four, another quite brilliant stroke. It was a perfectly good ball that seemed to have cramped Rahul for room; not a bit of it. India lead by 337 runs.
83rd over: India 326-4 (Rahul 133, Nair 18) Nair chases a tempting, juicy outswinger from Carse and slashes it over the head of gully for four. A hostile over from Carse ends with an unpleasant lifter that pins Nair’s hand against the bat handle. Painful stuff but he looks okay.
82nd over: India 321-4 (Rahul 133, Nair 13) Chris Woakes, who chose the second new ball from the box, gets to work and almost dismisses Karun Nair with a lovely delivery that goes past the edge.
“On Thursday evening, my son Ethan broke his arm whilst fielding for Whitkirk Under-9s in their Leeds and Wetherby Cup semi final,” writes Nathan Early. “Obviously he’s devastated that his season’s over and that he’ll miss the cup final against local rivals Colton. However, he came home from school today to a personal message from Harry Brook (via the ECB) wishing him all the best in his recovery.
“Needless to say, Ethan is now absolutely made up! The video message was clearly recorded at close of play yesterday, which when you’ve just got out for 99 really speaks volumes about the guy.”
That’s lovely. I was going to offer Ethan the best wishes of everyone here at the Guardian, but I think Harry Brook has got us covered.
81st over: India 319-4 (Rahul 133, Nair 12) The new ball is a double-edged sword increases England’s chances of taking wickets – and India’s chances of scoring runs. Karun Nair push-drives Brydon Carse through mid-off for a handsome boundary, which helps extend India’s lead to 326.
They’ll want at least 50 more, perhaps a hundred. Six of this Indian XI played at Edgbaston in 2022 when England romped to victory by scoring 378 for 3 in only 76.4 overs.
I forgot to link to tomorrow’s weather forecast, as mentioned by Phil Harrison in the 80th over. Here it is. I predict a nipper.
Time for the second new ball. But first, an unscheduled break in play – KL Rahul charged straight off the field at the end of the over, presumably for an appointment with A. Shanks.
80th over: India 314-4 (Rahul 133, Nair 7) Rahul has been batting all day but his toes are still twinkling. He skips back to cut Bashir for four, another shot of unobtrusive class,
“Just looked at the forecast and, while it probably isn’t going to be a washout, there’s not much chance of an uninterrupted day’s play tomorrow,” says Phil Harrison. “Makes it a trickier declaration to time – for all we know, India might have enough runs already but only two wickets in the day suggests the pitch is still basically fine. They could run out of time but if they give England a sniff, it could backfire too.”
And it’s the first Test of the series. But it’s also a Bumrah Test. Easy to say from here but I would do everything I could to give Bumrah a spell tonight, even if it means setting something theoretically gettable like 380 in 100 overs. India hold all the cards; might as well play them.
79th over: India 308-4 (Rahul 128, Nair 6) Rahul flicks a tired delivery from Stokes for four, then tries to pull a sharp, possibly angry bouncer and deflects it into the ribcage. The lead is 314.
“A short window, Rob?” sniffs Brian Withington. “Some sort of squat horizontal job rather than the narrow slit favoured by archers? Asking for a glazier friend.”
Blimey, what is this, Slap a Smyth Day? Anyone want to ask why there hasn’t been any hair gel on my shopping list since 2008? Eh?
78th over: India 303-4 (Rahul 123, Nair 6) There’s more than one way to see in the second new ball. Yesterday England tried to cram as many runs as possible into overs 76-80 and lost Jamie Smith; today Rahul and Nair are playing orthodox, low-risk cricket.
“I am writing to complain about all the music references in the OBO,” writes Alisdair Gould. “Like a wasted short ball it goes way over my head. Can we have Tim soon? You could email him about punctuation. Frustrated – more with England’s lack of bowling really.”
I’m honoured to be your frustration ball, Alisdair, even more so because I can’t remember making a music reference today.
77th over: India 301-4 (Rahul 122, Nair 5) Now England go up for caught behind when Rahul pushes at a leg-stump delivery from Stokes. There was a deflection, but only off the thigh pad.
No sign yet of India trying to force the pace. They’ll want to give Bumrah a spell tonight but that might involve a slightly risky declaration. India’s chances of victory will probably increase if they are bowled out with the second new ball.
76th over: India 299-4 (Rahul 121, Nair 4) A big-spinning delivery from Bashir leads to an LBW appeal against Nair, although strictly speaking it hit him straight between the legs. Which means it would hjve bounced over the stumps.
Nair drags a reverse sweep off the last delivery that is well fielded at short third. India lead by 305.
Shoaib Bashir will resume after tea. There’s a short window of five overs before the second new ball becomes available.
“Can you actually see England managing to resist Bumrah for a whole day and a bit on a fifth-day wicket?” says Jeremy Boyce.
I don’t think it will happen but I can see how it might. It’ll be a fascinating fourth innings – England disowned the draw at the start of Bazball but there have been signs of greater pragmatism in the last year or so. I suppose it depends on the target; if it’s under 400 – which is conceivable, if unlikely, with the second new ball imminent – they will definitely go for it.
Tea: India lead by 304 runs
75th over: India 298-4 (Rahul 120, Nair 4) A quiet end to a dominant session for India, who splattered 145 runs in 27 overs for the loss of the maverick’s maverick, Rishabh Pant. He made history by becoming the first Indian player to score two centuries in a Test against England, although milestones somehow feel less relevant with Pant because the experience of watching him is so vivid.
At the other end KL Rahul provided a real-time masterclass in opening the batting. Rare is the innings that has both Geoffrey Boycott and Rishabh Pant purring with approval; Rahul has played one today.
74th over: India 297-4 (Rahul 119, Nair 4) Nair scores his first Test runs since March 2017, when Theresa May was prime minster and Jasprit Bumrah was seen as a white-ball specialist, by reverse sweeping Bashir very fine for four. And why not.
73rd over: India 292-4 (lead by 298: Rahul 118, Nair 0) Root off, Stokes back on, and Rahul greets it with a gorgeous cut for four. The DVD of this innings should be sent to budding Test openers across the globe.
72nd over: India 287-4 (lead by 293: Rahul 113, Nair 0) The new batter is Karun Nair, who is on a pair after that screamer from Ollie Pope in the first innings.
Pant, incidentally, hit 73 off his last 59 balls – and that included an extended spell of strokelessness in the nineties.
WICKET! India 287-4 (Pant c Crawley b Bashir 116)
Pant slog-sweeps Bashir straight to widish long-on, where Crawley takes a comfortable catch, and walks off to his second standing ovation of the game.
That’s a slightly strange wicket for England. There’s no celebration, because they’ve been pummelled, but it could ultimately be the difference between defeat and a draw. Knowing England, they’ll still be eyeing victory.
Nineteen from Root’s over
71st over: India 285-3 (Rahul 113, Pant 116) Pant lashes Root over extra-cover for six, an outrageous one-handed stroke. It’s his ninth of the match, only four off Rohit Sharma’s Test record. That shot is sandwiched by boundaries down the ground and through midwicket. Oh and there were four byes earlier in the over as well.
England have to find a way to dismiss Pant, who has overtaken KL Rahul and is now effectively putting time back in the game for his bowlers to take 10 England wickets tonight and tomorrow.
An historic hundred for Rishabh Pant!
70th over: India 266-3 (Rahul 113, Pant 101) Pant turns down a bye when a ball from Bashir nutmegs Smith. He’s been dismissed in the nineties on nine occasions in Tests, so he’s determined to get this done. And now he has! Pant cuts a single to reach another brilliant hundred – and become the first Indian batter to make two in a Test against England.
There’s no gymnastic celebration this time. Frankly he’s already provided more than enough entertainment, hitting 25 fours and eight sixes across the two innings. Now that he has made it to three figures, there could be a few more sixes to come.
69th over: India 263-3 (Rahul 112, Pant 99) Root tries to tempt Pant with some wider deliveries, one of which turns really sharply after Pant offers no stroke. Pant works the final ball to deep midwicket for a single, which means he’ll keep the strike. And he’s one away from his eighth Test hundred.
68th over: India 261-3 (Rahul 111, Pant 98) Nope, not yet. Pant leaves or defends the four balls he faces in that Bashir over. He’s given us all a lesson in patience and discipline.
67th over: India 258-3 (Rahul 108, Pant 98) A mischievous bowling change from Ben Stokes, who brings Joe Root into the attack with Pant one hit away from a century. What’s the worst that can happen?
Nothing much in that over. Pant, forever confounding expectations, pushes a couple of low-risk singles on the off side. He’s two away.
66th over: India 254-3 (Rahul 106, Pant 96) Pant needs five for his century, which usually means only one thing. On this occasion Bashir keeps him quiet for four balls before Pant dabs a single on the leg side.
Jofra Archer has taken his first County Championship wicket since 2021. Tanya Aldred has more.
