India end day four on 52-1 in chase of 209 to win first Test; England captain Joe Root scores his 21st Test century to keep hosts in the game; Jasprit Bumrah takes 5-64; Stuart Broad removes KL Rahul late on to boost England hopes; day five from 10.15am, Sunday on Sky Sports The Hundred
Sunday 8 August 2021 10:21, UK
Joe Root kept England's hopes of victory over India in the first Test alive with a superb 21st Test hundred on an absorbing day four at Trent Bridge.
The England captain's first home century since 2018 held the hosts' second innings together for much of the day before he fell to the ever-impressive Jasprit Bumrah (5-64), who then made light work of the lower order.
After bowling England out for 303, India were left needing 209 to win the series opener and they made a positive start in the last hour of play, although Stuart Broad (1-18) dismissed KL Rahul (26) to set up a tantalising final day in Nottingham.
India will start it on 52-1, needing another 157 runs for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, while England require a further nine wickets.
The day began with the home side 25-0, still trailing by 70, and hoping for a much-improved effort from their top-order to help wipe out the deficit but instead they found themselves two down inside the opening half hour.
Rory Burns (18) and Zak Crawley (6) were the two to fall, undone by significant seam movement from Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah, respectively, as they each nicked behind.
Despite some excellent India bowling, Root was quickly into his stride and got off the mark with a crunching cover drive, a shot that was oft-repeated in his fine 109 from 172 balls.
While Root was typically busy from the start of his innings, Dom Sibley was digging in at the other end and having successfully overturned an lbw decision - the confirmation of which was met with a punch of the air from Root - he stayed with his skipper through to lunch.
By that stage Root, having worked through a nervy spell late in the session, had reached his half-century and given England a lead.
They were only 40 ahead though when Sibley tried to play an uncharacteristically booming drive through the offside and got an inside edge that was brilliantly taken by Rishabh Pant to end a stand of 89 and give Bumrah his second wicket.
Root was still looking assured at the crease, even with threatening clouds overhead and the floodlights on, proving the point with another crisp drive off Siraj, while Jonny Bairstow was soon scoring freely as well.
The England No 5 survived an lbw review, the second lost by India, and with Root happy to work singles, Bairstow became the chief aggressor.
He was timing the ball well and had scored 30 of the 42 runs in the partnership when he took on a short ball from Siraj, middled it but picked out Ravindra Jadeja on the square leg boundary - Siraj shushed the batsman as he departed as the slightly tetchy atmosphere between the sides continued.
Dan Lawrence came in and scored a brisk 25 before he was trapped lbw by Thakur, who then dismissed Jos Buttler (17) with the second ball after tea, as the England wicketkeeper, who had also begun positively, made a costly misjudgement in choosing to leave, only to have his off stump pegged back.
All the while, Root had been accumulating, taking the lead up towards 150, but there were a couple of nervy moments before he reached three figures, including an lbw review when he was on 97 when he was struck on the pad by Siraj.
Root would not be denied though and brought up a hard-earned century with a delightful straight drive back past Thakur for four.
The passionate celebration showed just what it meant to him as the emotion burst out of him after hours of intense focus, composure and no little quality in the middle.
With Root in such great touch and a fiery contest between Sam Curran and Siraj, the crowd were right in the game but once the second new ball became available, it was the India fans who were celebrating.
Bumrah produced a beauty to find Root's edge and then accounted for Curran (32) and Broad with successive balls, the latter cleaned up by a yorker arrowed in at middle stump.
Ollie Robinson (15) took England past 300 before he was the last man out, caught at third man off Shami.
India's openers were left with an hour to bat and could hardly have asked for worse conditions to start the chase, Broad and James Anderson charging in with a new Dukes ball as the gloom descended.
Rahul and Rohit Sharma were up to the challenge though and it took a snorter from Broad, after a change of ends, to find the former outside edge with 15 minutes of the day remaining.
Rohit (12no) and Cheteshwar Pujara (12no) battled through the remainder of the day and will be back on Sunday morning for a potentially thrilling final day.
Watch day five of the first Test between England and India at Trent Bridge from 10.15am, Sunday on Sky Sports The Hundred and Main Event.
