England bounced back in style in the fourth test to eye a series win in Southampton. Joe Root (48) was the lone survivor but the English team was 122/5 after the dismissal of Root and in die need of a partnership to take the game away from the Indian team.
Their controversial all-rounder Ben Stokes(30) and Jos Buttler69) formed a crucial 56 runs partnership to rescue England from a tricky situation. After the departure of Stokes, England were 178 for the loss of 6 wickets and the fourth highest run getter of the series Sam Curran arrived to the crease.
Buttler and Curran stitched a 55 runs partnership to take the game slightly away from India and take the lead to over 200. In came Adil Rashid after the departure of Jos Buttler and he troubled the Indian pacers with some fierce strokeplay that forced Indian captain Virat Kohli to make bowling changes.
Rashid added 27 runs with Curran before getting dismissed that also ended the days play. England are currenly 260/8 with a lead of 233 runs.
The task will be cut out for the Indian batters when they chase down this score in the fourth innings. However, twitterverse was scared that Indian team have conceded much runs and will end up losing the test match.
Twitter reactions
To put things in perspective: Outside Asia, India have been set a 200-plus target 61 times and they’ve won a mere 3 Tests, losing 36 drawing 22 – England already leading by 233 here with maybe another 15-20 runs thrown in here and there #Southampton #IndvEng
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) September 1, 2018
England have already amassed enough runs to beat India . #INDvENG
— अजात मित्र ଅଜାତମିତ୍ରAJATAMITRA (@scdas64) September 1, 2018
After lossing top 4 in 1st innings England’s last 6 got 210,
In 2nd innings 168* till know,,,
Keep India in same position,,if we loose top 4(incl Pujara,Virat),,can u name one who has the ability to make even 50 runs,??
P:S Except greatest all rounder @hardikpandya7— Harshit Kumar (@Er_kumarharshit) September 1, 2018
India already screwed their chances when they let England score more than 150 in the first innings..
— Bilal ??? (@billz_25) September 1, 2018
At the end of Day 3 it’s pretty even, tomorrow 1st hr will be a huge one for both the team’s. If India can get the remaining 2 wickets cheaply they ll feel confident chasing anything below 275,if England goes past 250-275 they ll think they can win the match and series. #ENGvIND
— Vivek (@vvdoc2020) September 1, 2018
England well and truly in front at the end of day 3. India will rue the 60 minutes on either side tea on day 2 when the slipped from 161/3 to 195/8. #ENGvIND
— Ajit Gupta (@ajitgupta123) September 1, 2018
I think the game is over for India and series too.
England batting and more so its lower order has won it for them.
Can’t see India coming back now
Will loose it 4-1@sanjaymanjrekar @bhogleharsha heard u saying many times if top 5 can’t win it nor can 6-7 but u were wrong— dr punit agrawal (@drpunitagrawal) September 1, 2018
Then came a positive reply from Dada
Don’t rule india out chasing 300 ..there is too much ability in that side @BCCI @SonySix @sonypicsprodns
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) September 1, 2018
