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India takes an unassailable 3-1 lead over England (Photo: Sportzpics)
Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel lead India to the finish line in a very dramatic chase on Day 4 of the Ranchi Test against England.
hruv Jurel slots one into the leg-side gap and before completing the second run, starts celebrating mid-way with his teammate Shubman Gill. The entire dressing room was on its feet applauding the solid effort of the two right-handers as India registered a dramatic five-wicket haul over England in the fourth Test to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.
It was fitting that Jurel (39*) scored the winning runs for the team as the 23-year-old, playing only his third Test innings, operated with a very mature head when the team was under immense pressure at 120/5 . He had an experienced Gill (52*) for company, but England spinners Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley played well in tandem during that phase.
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Jurel, who scored a fantastic 90 in the first innings, was in no hurry. Neither does Gill. Together they approached the target in singles and finished the job emphatically: two sixes from Gill, a boundary and a couple from Jurel.
The period after the first hour of play would have given many heart-in-mouth moments to those who had seen India make a mess of their fourth-innings chases in the past. The recent one was against England in the series opener in Hyderabad where the hosts fell short in the 230-run chase.
Against the same opposition, India surrendered in the fourth innings in 2018 at Southampton and Birmingham respectively and the three quick wickets in the morning session, and the wickets of Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan after lunch, only added to the drama.
Before the Ranchi Test, India had never chased anything above 150 in a home Test and had only won a total of 20 Tests, both home and away, in the longest format. The last home Test win, chasing 150-plus, came in the 2013 series against Australia. All that, however, was in the past when India overcame England to seal the series.
Both teams played a thrilling first session on Day 4, when India scored 78 runs but lost the wickets of captain Rohit Sharma, the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rajat Patidar. The first hour went in the hosts’ favor as both openers looked very positive, but England bounced back in the second hour and gave nothing away. India could only score 34 runs off 117 balls since Jaiswal missed Joe Root’s big hit to James Anderson in the short third and were happy to spend time.
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It was the usual pitching behavior as he just woke up after the lunch break and showed off his tricks. There was variable bounce on display, but both Jurel and Gill used soft hands, firm defense and precise footwork to carry the team to the finish line. England fought back in the second session, but India’s start on Day 3 and the first hour of Day 4 simply did not allow the visitors enough runs to play for.
India were clearly the better team and took control of the Test on Day 3 where Jurel did not allow the visitors to take a substantial lead and then spinners R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav bowled a sensational spell to defeat Ben Stokes & Co. alone 145.
192 was still a lot of runs in this strip and there was drama in store after that little collapse, but both Gill and Jurel finished the job with an unbeaten 72-run stand.
