Rajkot Day 4: England take lead, first Test heads towards draw

Rajkot The Indian spin troikas inability to get breakthroughs on a good batting track was exposed once again as the first cricket Test against England meandered towards a draw after a solid century stand by the visiting teams openers here on the penultimate day After India were all out for 488 in their first innings thereby conceding a first innings lead of 49 runs England openers Alastair Cook 46 batting and teenager Haseeb Hameed 62 batting added 114 runs in 37 overs to take the lead to 163 runsWith only a days play left and turn on offer being aslow one it will take a Herculean effort from Indian bowlersto enforce a result out of this match which is heading towardsa tame drawEngland wont mind as it would give them a necessaryboost on a long tour that will end in the third week of nextmonthCook was unbeaten on 46 off 107 balls and debutant openerHameed struck his maiden halfcentury on debut The 115ballinnings had five boundaries and a sixWith the pitch showing just the usual signs of wear andtear draw looks the most obvious result unless England makea challenging declaration and press for a victory tomorrowIn the morning India resumed at the overnight 319 forfour and lost wickets steadily barring a 64run seventh wicketstand between Ravichandran Ashwin who made a steady 70 withseven fours off 139 balls and in 200 minutes and wicketkeeperWriddhiman Saha 35India lost the wickets of captain Virat Kohli who struckfive fours in 95 balls and Ajinkya Rahane 13 in theprelunch session and the rest in the session before teaThe lastwicket stand between Ashwin who was 49 when theninth wicket fell and Mohammed Shami not out 8 kept Englandon the field longer than they may have expected and helpedIndia cut the lead to below 50All the Indian wickets that fell today were claimed bythe English spin trio of leggie Adil Rashid 4 for 114offspinner Moeen Ali 2 for 85 and leftarm spinner ZafarAnsari 2 for 77The other two wickets were shared equally by pacersStuart Broad 1 for 78 and Ben Stokes 1 for 52Rahane and Kohli departed in the span of under 15 minutesand in the space of 17 balls in the first session to raiseEnglands hopes which were dashed by Ashwin and Saha withtheir diligent half century stand that lasted for 98 minutesKohli became the first Indian skipper in over 65 years tobe dismissed hitwicket while Rahane was dismissed cheaplybefore Ashwin and Saha steadied the rocking boat with a halfcentury stand Both Rahane and Kohli were out to pull shots on a wicketwhere the odd ball had started turning and jumping from thefootmarks or widening cracks Rahane who joined Kohli straightaway this morning after India had lost night watchman Amit Mishra to the third ball of what was the final over of the extended days play was out when he misread a straight ball from leftarm spinner Ansari He tried to pull off the back foot and the ball hit the top of the middle stump It was the first big blow of the day and an even bigger one followed when Kohli who looked wellset and had eschewed risky shots went back to pull the ball from leggie Rashid but trod on his wicket as his left leg touched the base of the stump and disturbed the bailsKohli thus became the second India captain to get out hitwicket after Lala Amarnath in 194849 at the Chepauk inChennai against Trevor Goddards West IndiesIt was also the 22nd time that an Indian batsman was outin this freak manner Lalas son Mohinder heading the listhaving been out thrice in this fashion and the first timesince VVS Laxman got out hit wicket in 2002 against the WestIndies at St Johns AntiguaThe two huge wickets had fallen within just 15 minutesand in 17 balls and India at one stage last evening 318 fortwo before Vijay departed for 126 had dramatically slumped to361 for sixAlthough India later lost the wickets of Saha Jadeja12 Yadav 5 and Ashwin tea had approached and Englandslead was cut considerablyAshwin who compiled his seventh half century in his 40thTest and third against the tourists was the last to departwhen he was caught in the deep off Moeen Ali after havingadded 29 runs for the last wicket with Shami who was not out 8after a stay of half an hourEngland commenced their second innings and appeared in notrouble against either pace or spin although Cook on 7 wasnearly caught hooking a short ball from Shami at long leg byCheteshwar PujaraThe Indian spinners will certainly come in for some flakas they bowled 26 out of 37 overs Ashwin 032 in 10 oversand Ravindra Jadeja 033 in 10 overs did get the ball toturn and jump but it wasnt anything menacing Amit Mishra019 in 6 overs again looked slow through the airDebutant opener Hameed batted confidently in the companyof his captain Cook and the 50 came up quickly in the 15thoverOnly once did the 19yearold batsman look in troublejust before he reached his maiden half centuryHe offered no stroke when he went back to Ashwin and wasrapped on pads The appeal was rejected and the DRS call bythe Indians showed the ball was missing the off stump and hesurvived He was out for 31 to Ashwin trapped leg before inthe first innings