IND vs ENG 1st Test: India reach 95/3 at tea, need 136 runs to win

The Indian top order struggled against the debutant leftspinner Tom Hartley on a slow turner pitch The hosts were 95 for three at tea on the fourth day of the IND vs ENG 1st TestKL Rahul and Axar Patel are in the middle chasing the target of 231 England who scored 420 in their second innings was assisted by Ollie Popes 196 runs India still needs 136 runs to winAlso Read Its a very tough decision New Zealand head coach Stead on Ravindras inclusion in squadHowever Indias chase started in a solid fashion with skipper Rohit Sharma 39 and his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal 15 adding 42 fussfree runs in 114 oversRohit even played a couple of sweeps and reverse sweeps to tackle the England tweakers but the first hint of trouble came when Jaiswal was snaffled by Hartley 331After spotting the advancing Jaiswal the leftarm spinner pulled his length back and the opener could only spoon a simple catch to Pope at a silly pointTwo balls later Hartley dismissed Shubman Gill who is currently struggling with his form in the longest format of the gameHartley tossed the ball on the off stump to which Shubman Gills halfhearted approach engaged Pope at the silly pointAlso ReadIN PHOTOS Most wickets for Australia in Test cricketBut a rude shock was awaiting them as Hartley soon won a legbefore appeal against Rohit whose attempt to play for turn brought disasterHowever KL Rahul and Axar Patel were promoted ahead of Shreyas Iyer at number 5Ollie Popes stupendous 196run knock helped England set a fighting target for India to chase down in the fourth innings Pope 196 propped up England who resumed from 316 on the fourth day of the IND vs ENG 1st TestBut the lack of a Plan B was evident in the way the Indians bowled often straying to the pads or drifting way outside the offstump to give freebies for the Englishmen to feed onBut Pope was not complaining either as he merrily added to the total as England flew past 400 runs in their second innings It was only the second time a team managed to go past that mark in the second innings in India since 2012 Alastair Cooks England did that in AhmedabadPope was shouldered by Hartley in the innings builtup The duo made a runstand of 80 runs off just 106 balls They executed the preset strategy of playing a variety of sweeps to perfection to keep the Indians a befuddled lotIt required a shooter from Ashwin to snap the stand Hartley stayed back to play a length ball from the offspinner but the ball kept low to beat his defence to smash onto the stumps baseFrom there India managed to eke out a couple of quick wickets including that of Pope to bring curtains to Englands inningsFittingly Bumrah best among Indias bowlers ended his stay with a slower ball that dishevelled the stumps as Pope tried a reverse scoop Lead pacer Bumrah also fetched first breakthrough for India in the morning session of the fourth day of the IND vs ENG 1st TestAhmed who till then showed admirable selfrestraint chased a wide one from Bumrah to give a regulation catch to KS Bharat behind the stumps However Ahmed had helped Pope to make 64 runs for the seventh wicket that extended Englands leadWith PTI Inputs