India staged a strong fightback on the fourth day of the Test match against England, reaching 174 for 2 in their second innings at stumps. Despite this effort, the visitors still trail the hosts by 137 runs.
England, who posted a mammoth 669 in their first innings, had taken a 311-run lead after bowling India out for 358. Chris Woakes gave England a perfect start in the second innings, removing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan for ducks early on.
From there, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul stood firm, putting together an unbroken 174-run partnership for the third wicket. At the close of play, Rahul was unbeaten on 87 off 210 balls with 8 fours, while Gill was on 78 off 167 balls with 10 fours. Gill reached his 8th Test fifty in 77 balls, and Rahul brought up his 19th half-century in 141 balls.
Earlier in the day, England’s first innings came to an end at 669. Ben Stokes led the charge with a commanding 141 off 198 balls, hitting 11 fours and 3 sixes. He added 95 runs with Brydon Carse for the ninth wicket. Joe Root was equally impressive, scoring 150 runs off 248 deliveries, overtaking Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest run scorer in Test cricket history with 13,379* runs.
Zak Crawley (84) and debutant Ben Duckett (94) also played key roles in England’s innings. For India, Ravindra Jadeja took four wickets, while Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar picked up two apiece.
With one day left, India’s focus will be on surviving the final day’s play to force a draw.