England had threatened to spoil all the hard work that was put in during the first morning of the fourth Test by openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul. However, despite losing three for 71 in the post-Lunch session, Sai Sudharsan stood tall with a composed 61 that was key to India finishing Day I at 264/4.

That, despite Rishabh Pant sustaining an injury while attempting a reverse-sweep
off Chris Woakes, which not just forced him to retire hurt but also made his participation in the remainder of the Test uncertain.

Pant’s sudden departure at a time he was again looking solid gave England the opening they were looking for. Much to their delight, India lost Sudharsan too late in the day’s final session as Ben Stokes’ short-ball tactic against the left-hander
finally worked.

Since then, though, even under fading light, the resolute Ravindra Jadeja (19 batting) and Shardul Thakur (19 batting), who replaced Nitish Kumar Reddy, avoided
any further damage in the remaining overs of the day, forging 29 so far.

Having lost a solid Rahul against the run of play, a well-set Jaiswal and captain Shubman Gill in the post-Lunch session, the pressure was on India after they were put into bat for the third time in this Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The overhead conditions were gloomy almost right through the second session on Wednesday, and England’s bowlers exercised a fair amount of control with very few boundary balls during that phase.

India slumped to 145/3 from 94/0, but Sudharsan and Pant were steady right through their 72-run fourth-wicket stand and importantly, both of them played with a fair amount of composure.

Till his stay at the crease, senior partner Pant took calculated risks and defended solidly, while Sudharsan was judicious in terms of shot selection as well as controlling his temptation to drive the deliveries outside off-stump.

He had his slice of luck, however, when Jamie Smith dropped a regulation catch
off Stokes’ bowling in the second session. Sudharsan was on 20 then.

England's Liam Dawson celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of India's Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Earlier, Rahul erred just once during his stay at the middle, and that brought about his dismissal off Woakes, who was able to extract just a little bit of away movement to break the stubborn opening stand. Rahul’s departure didn’t seem to have much of an effect on Jaiswal, though.

Even though India went into Lunch at 78/0, Jaiswal was beaten on quite a few occasions outside the off-stump by Woakes in particular, despite the all-rounder’s reduced pace. However, he still managed to hang in there,
which gave an impression that the rub of the green was going his way.

Unfortunately for Jaiswal, that wasn’t to be, as a straighter one from left-arm spinner Liam Dawson (replacing Shoaib Bashir) had him edging at slip. Soon after, skipper Stokes darted one back in to trap his counterpart Gill LBW a little before Tea.