Follow Us135 runs for India.
6 wickets for England.
Whichever way you see it, you've got to admit that a five-day Test cricket still has its charm alive, with India and England fighting it out at Lord’s. The clash has had everything thus far, drama, partnerships and more importantly, wickets.
Towards the last session of day four, things got spicier when India lost four wickets, chasing 193, with KL Rahul now set to resume the chase alongside Rishabh Pant. With only two results in the picture, England’s batting coach Marcus Trescothick admitted that the first hour will decide which team will walk away with a 2-1 lead.
"It will revolve around the first hour of the day and how positive India can be or how dominant we can be and how many wickets we can get," Trescothick said. "We are desperate to win. It's going to be amazing.
"We've seen four amazing days of cricket and two games which have been well supported. The last hour, with the energy around the ground was amazing. Everybody was invested. From an England point of view, it was brilliant. We love those situations where the crowd is really behind the team. Hopefully we get more of that and push on to win the game.
Lord’s crowd too went wild towards the latter part of day four, when England were defending their target, with plenty of excitement for every play and miss.
"If we can create an atmosphere like that - it might take a wicket to get it like that or for Joe [Root] to wind them up again - but the support has been brilliant throughout. And we will have a full house which gets to see the finale of an amazing Test," Trescothick added.
Unlike traditional Lord’s, it has been quite a difficult Test for the batters, who have succumbed to variation in bounce and wobble seam, especially with the slope at the iconic venue.
"I think the majority of what we have seen is variation in bounce from quick bowlers and people who can bowl wobble seam... that's the talk of the town," Trescothick said. "It's a dangerous ball on this pitch. We've seen a bit more bounce from the Nursery End than the Pavilion End. Hopefully it seams everywhere and we get six wickets in the first hour," he joked.
However, tempers have already flared between the two sides, with Brydon Carse giving quite an earful to India’s nightwatchman Akash Deep. A few minutes later, Stokes was also seen chatting with KL Rahul before he bowled Akash in the last over of the day.
"Both teams are passionate about playing the game and it is understandable that at times it gets to a boiling point," he said. "There will be things that happen between the two teams but both teams know there's a line you can't cross but it's not really been troubled too much. It helps the atmosphere in the series."