Bad light forced England not to take the second new ball as India ended Day 4 on 181/6 in their second innings. They lead England by 154 runs.
At one point, India seemed settled at 155/3 with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane battling it out in the middle. However, towards the fag end of the day, they suddenly lost three for 20 to hand some advantage back to England, who now look favourites with a day’s play still left at Lord’s.
Earlier, India lost both in-form openers, K.L. Rahul and Rohit Sharma, cheaply to Mark Wood. Virat Kohli looked to be settling in until he fell to Sam Curran’s outside-off trap and edged one behind to Jos Buttler.
At 55/3, the Indian batting looked in a spot of bother, but Pujara and Rahane added exactly 100 for the fourth wicket. The two senior batters, out of form for some time, batted for survival throughout the second session. Only 49 runs came in the 28 overs bowled in the session but, most importantly, for India, they did not lose a wicket.
After tea, Rahane looked for runs more proactively. He hit a couple of boundaries, including a pull off Ollie Robinson. Soon, there was a loud cheer from the crowd when Pujara played his 100th ball with only 12 runs to his name. Rahane’s much-awaited half-century came in 125 deliveries, and included five fours.
Nevertheless, Wood once again brought England back into the game when he got some extra lift from the short-of-good-length area that Pujara (45) failed to control. Pujara ended up offering a simple catch to Joe Root at slip. It was followed by a potentially match-changing spell of Moeen Ali, in which he removed Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja.
On 61, Rahane tried a tired-looking shot outside off but only managed to edge to Buttler. Jadeja, meanwhile, got a gem that spun past his bat to castle the off-stump.
Rishabh Pant (14*) and Ishant Sharma (4*) survived the final few overs of the day without much fuss.
Brief scores: India 364 (K.L. Rahul 129; James Anderson 5-62) and 181/6 (Ajinkya Rahane 61; Mark Wood 3-40) lead England (Joe Root 180*; Mohammed Siraj 4-94) by 154 runs.