Home
India got into a commanding position against England on Day 4 of the Edgbaston Test thanks to Shubman Gill's incredible second consecutive ton in the match. While on one end Gill was hammering England bowlers around the stadium, he wasn't getting much support from Ravindra Jadeja at the other, who was scoring runs at quite a slow pace. At one stage, the veteran was batting on 25 runs from 68 deliveries and was costing India some much valuable time by not accelerating and taking too many balls to score.
However, Jadeja finally got into his groove after hitting Shoaib Bashir for a six during the final session of the day. The 36-year-old would eventually remain unbeaten on 69 runs from 118 deliveries as India declared on 427/6, handing England a humongous target of 608 ahead of the fifth and final day of the match.
Hussain criticized Jadeja for his slow inning
Though Jadeja did end up playing a rather decent knock, former England captain Naseer Hussain was not satisfied at all by the left-hander's batting approach during the crucial fourth day. After Jadeja hit Bashir for a towering six, Hussain questioned why he couldn't do so earlier. He also went on to warn India that if England manage to somehow get back into the match on the final day, then the team will definitely be looking back at Jadeja's sluggish inning.
“Very odd. Why? Why does it take a tea break for someone to say, right, let's get on with it? Every moment in a Test match, whether it be the moment after tea or the moment before tea is important. If they have England nine down and go to the Lords 1-0 down, they will look at that half hour before tea and say, why does it need the coach to tell us to get on with it?” Hussain said while commentating.
Jadeja scored five boundaries and a maximum in his knockk as the Men in Blue had quite a successful day with the bat and managed to pile on runs against the hosts for over two sessions. Gill once again became a nightmare for the Three Lions with his inning of 161 while Rishabh Pant also played a fiery knock of 65 runs from just 58 deliveries, giving valiant contributions to India's massive second-inning total.
England also had a poor start with the bat as the visitors managed to take three wickets in the final 16 overs of the day. Firstly, Mohammed Siraj dimissed Zak Crawley for a duck before Akash Deep rattled Ben Duckett's stumps in the fifth over, leaving England on 30/2. Finally, Akash Deep also managed to get the huge wicket of Joe Root for just six runs to restrict the hosts to 50/3 at one stage.
ALSO READ: SL vs BAN: Tanvir Islam's record-breaking fifer leads Bangladesh to 16-run win, level series 1-1
A 22-run stand between Ollie Pope and Harry Brook saw England finish the day on 72/3 and they will now be requiring 536 runs on the final day to win the match with seven wickets in hand. It will be a historic feat if Shubman Gill & Co. manage to emerge victorious at Edgbaston on Sunday as the Men in Blue haven't recorded a single triumph at the stadium in history.
ADVERTISEMENT
