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India on Saturday afternoon inched a step closer to their World Test Championship (WTC) final berth as they had England on the mat in their second innings on Day Three of the fourth and final Test here at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
At Tea on Day Three, England's second innings score read 91/6 and the visitors still trail by 69 runs. Dan Lawrence and Ben Foakes were unbeaten on 19 and 11 respectively at the end of the second session. The turn of the event started in the post-lunch session as skipper Virat Kohli brought spinner - Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel -- from both ends. Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley continued the innings from 6/0. In the second over after the commencement of the session, Ashwin scalped the wicket of Crawley (5) who was caught at first slip by Ajinkya Rahane. On the next ball, Ashwin picked Jonny Bairstow on a golden duck, piling further misery on the visitors. Sibley added a brief 10-run stand for the fourth-wicket stand with skipper Joe Root before he was dismissed by Axar at his individual score of 3. All-rounder Ben Stokes, who had scored a gritty half-century in the first innings, tried to revive England innings along with the skipper. However, Axar sent Stokes (2) back to the pavilion to scalp his second wicket of the innings. England was then left reeling at 30/4. Ollie Pope (15), who walked in to bat at number six, played some shots to release pressure and added 35 runs alongside root. However, Pope's stay was shortlived as he was out stumped by Axar in the 25th over of the innings. In the next over, Root's 30-run stint was also ended by Ashwin as he caught the visiting skipper in front of the wickets. At that point, India totally gained the upper hand over Englishmen and dominated the session. Lawrence and Foakes then made sure that England did not lose any further wicket till the end of the session. Earlier, resuming the third day on 294/7, India got bundled out for 365 in the morning session, taking a substantial 160-run lead. Rishabh Pant (101) and Washington Sundar (96 not out) were the top scorers while Rohit Sharma and Axar made useful contributions of 49 and 43 each. Brief Scores: England 205 and 91/6 at Tea (Joe Root 30, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-35, Axar Patel 3-28); India 365 (Rishabh Pant 101, Washington Sundar 96*) (ANI)
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