Manchester, Jul 27: KL Rahul and Shubman Gill led India’s defiant fightback via smashing their respective fifties and sharing an unbroken 174-run partnership off 361 balls to keep England at bay, as the visitors’ reached 174/2 in 63 overs at stumps on day four of fourth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Old Trafford.

Though the prospect of going for a draw is still faraway, as they trail by 137 runs, Rahul and Gill, unbeaten on 87 and 78 respectively, have given India and its fans a fighting chance of saving the match, something which looked improbable at one point.

It was because England made 669 in 157.1 overs and took a lead of 311 runs, with skipper Ben Stokes' hitting his first Test century in two years as he backed up his five-wicket haul with a superb knock of 141 from 198 balls – leaving India down and out of this game.

That possibility increased when they were 0/2 in five balls of the second innings. Gill came in on a hat-trick ball with India under immense pressure, but he and Rahul – two calm individuals in their demeanour and temperament – showed their gritty skill and immense mental toughness to have consecutive wicketless sessions.

While Gill was proficient in his drives, Rahul was pristine in his punches and cuts. It also helped India that Stokes hasn’t bowled yet in the second innings, with the ball going soft and pitch not showing much tricks. With rain forecasted for day five, there’s still more twists and turns to come in this game.

The morning began with Stokes punching and playing perfect cover drive off Mohammed Siraj for a brace of boundaries, before Liam Dawson pulled him for another four. Bumrah then struck by getting one to skid through Dawson's defences and smashed the top of off-stump, as the batter fell for 26.

With Brydon Carse crunching Bumrah for two fours, Stokes reached the three-figure mark by flicking Siraj for four to bring up his first Test hundred in more than two years. He celebrated it with a fist bump before looking up to the sky, with his folded finger raised to give a tribute to his father Ged.

With India spreading the field out, Carse was building the score with singles and hitting the occasional boundary. Stokes, on the other hand, danced down the pitch to hit Washington Sundar for six, before reverse sweeping him for four. He then timed the backfoot drive off Ravindra Jadeja for four, before hitting him over long-off for six.

Carse joined the fun by slogging Sundar for four and six respectively, before Stokes smashed Jadeja over long-off for another maximum. But in a bid to repeat it off Jadeja, Stokes mistimed the shot and holed out to long-on. England’s innings finally ended when Carse went for the slog-sweep off Jadeja, but holed out in the deep.

For India, Jadeja took four wickets while Sundar had two scalps in a largely ineffective bowling performance. Bumrah conceded above 100 runs in a Test match for the first time while Siraj, debutant Kamboj and Thakur were largely ineffective.

Coming from round the wicket angle, Woakes struck in the opening over when he got one to shape away enough and take the leading edge of Yashasvi Jaiswal, which was brilliantly caught by one-handed Joe Root going low to his right at slip.

One brought two for Woakes as B Sai Sudharsan initially tried leaving the ball, but the ball took bottom edge of the bat and was caught by Harry Brook at second slip. Rahul and Gill saw off the rest of the deliveries before the session ended firmly in England’s favour.

Post lunch, Gill survived two lbw shouts in four balls in the first over off Jofra Archer. Rahul, with his ability to absorb pressure, punched Archer for four before Gill, who stood outside the crease, cut, punched and carved Woakes for three boundaries.

When Carse came in, Gill unfurled two beautiful on-drives for consecutive boundaries. After a decisive Rahul creamed Woakes for four, Gill drove Archer through cover for four, before upper-cutting him for a stunning boundary and using his wrists well to cut Dawson for four.

Gill could have been out on 46 when Dawson dropped a tough catch at gully off Carse’s bowling, and went on to raise his fifty just before tea break came. During the second session, Gill went past Virat Kohli’s tally of 655 runs in the series against England in 2016 and is now well in sight of surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's record of most runs as an Indian captain in a Test series (732).

Incidentally, each time Gill has reached fifty in this series, he's converted it into a century. The final session began with Rahul and Gill being watchful for quite some time before the former got his first boundary by guiding Jofra Archer late through third man for four, before bringing up his half-century.

While Gill turned out to old-school batting mode, Rahul let go of menacing bouncers from Archer and hit boundaries on the ones which were short and wide, before Gill drove him through cover for four more.

Against Chris Woakes, used his pace to cut between slip and gully for four, before slashing a wide ball through point for another boundary. When spinners Liam Dawson and Joe Root came on, Rahul and Gill were happy rotating the strike against them, apart from taking a boundary before stumps came on an engrossing day of Test cricket, which in turn has set the stage for a gripping day five.

Brief Scores: India 358 and 174/2 in 63 overs (KL Rahul 87 not out, Shubman Gill 78 not out; Chris Woakes 2-48) trail England 669 in 157.1 overs (Joe Root 150, Ben Stokes 141; Ravindra Jadeja 4-143, Washington Sundar 2-107) by 137 runs.

(IANS)

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