4th Test Day 2 Report: Audacious Pant, calm Washington ride around England

India had to bat well on the second day of the fourth and final Test of the series to keep their hopes of playing against New Zealand in the finals of the World Test Championship alive, and by the end of the day’s play, they have taken a significant stride ahead towards achieving that goal.

India finished the day on 294/7 and achieved a lead of 89 runs, which could well be the difference between the sides in the game leading into the third day, even if the remaining three wickets don’t yield too many runs for India. However, Washington Sundar has shown enough resilience with the bat to assure India of some more runs and England of more and more agony.

However the dominating position India find themselves in this Test match at the end of the second day’s play, it did not appear to be a smooth ride for them in the early and middle part of the day’s play before a talisman in the form of Rishabh Pant and a calm, composed batsman in Washington Sundar joined each other in the middle.

They started their partnership when Ravichandran Ashwin walked off the field disgruntled after falling off courtesy of a leading-edge of his bat when he tried to exploit Jack Leach’s leg-side delivery and unleashed their superb ball-striking skills mixed with solid defence to put the England team under a lot of pressure and frustration.

Pant took a bit of time at the start of his innings, but when spinners gave the ball air in hope of enticing a big shot from him to dismiss him, he obliged and did not disappoint Indian fans on either entertainment or in terms of runs scored.

Dominic Bess was not too accurate against Pant, while Root seemed to be reluctant to stack Leach against Pant with only 50-odd runs in his hands to play with. He rather backed on the pace duo of Anderson and Stokes to take away probably the last thorn in their flesh.

Pant had better ideas in his minds, and he kept on chipping away at the deficit, mixing caution with periodic aggression.

But, all of a sudden, without any obvious provocation from the pitch or the England bowling line up, Pant seemed to have shifted his batting gear just when the new ball was three overs away. Maybe he was calculating in his mind that England were playing only two seamers and one of them—Ben Stokes was bowling at that moment and to rattle the tourists, started taking the game to the opposition’s line up.

Joe Root might have rated his off-spin very highly after a fifer in the last game, and lack of accuracy too might have propelled him to bowl to Pant, but by that time, he was in his zone and batting with a fearless attitude.

Root once again went to Anderson who was a miser with the ball at his worst, and brilliant with his control over line and length at his best with the new ball in pursuit of success against Pant. Little did he know at that time that what was to follow will take the heart and soul away from his whole team.

Anderson was welcomed by Pant in a blistering fashion as the left-hander jumped down the track to hit the highest wicket-taker among pacers over his head towards the long-off boundary. Anderson pushed another one in his zone and he bludgeoned another one toward the cover region to send the England team searching for cover. All England players such as Stokes and Root who were standing in slips in hope of an edge from Pant’s bat were left to console themselves with a wry smile on their faces.

If getting hit over the head was not enough for Anderson, Pant had some more pain for him. Just like his first over with the new ball, Pant gave him another shock by reverse scoop over the slips to leave every commentators and analyst bewildered about his mindset when batting.

On the other hand, Washington was taking care of a tiring Stokes from the other end and matched Pant by values hitting him for two boundaries against the new ball.

Pant was nearing his much-elusive maiden hundred on home soil, and the madness that he was batting with was putting everyone on the edge of their seats. There was no heartbreak this time around and Pant brought his maiden century with a typical six over mid-wicket off Root.

The celebration was short-lived after his century as Anderson redeemed himself by Pant’s wicket but Washington brought up his fifty and ensured India did not falter the advantage they gained after so much of magic and audacity by Rishabh Pant and calmness of Washington.

Earlier in the day, there were completely different priorities for both sides. England had to bowl well and bring about a collapse of the Indian batting order, while on the other hand, India were targeting to bat the whole day and put England under a spot of bother.

Anderson and Stokes were immensely disciplined with the ball and both Pujara and Rohit did not get the loose balls to run away with the game. India had their tasks cut out and they backed themselves to survive the initial tough phase and looked set to attack the spinners.

However, Leach turned out to be a party-spoiler for them and trapped Pujara as soon as he was brought into the attack. He has dismissed Pujara on four occasions in this series and exposed a vulnerability that India’s number three had never shown in his career.

England were playing only two seamers and Root had no option to bank on Stokes to produce goods with the ball. He bowled his heart out and extracted extra bounce on a back of length delivery to surprise Virat Kohli and send him back to the pavilion for a duck. With Kohli and Pujara’s departure, India were in a spot of bother and needed the pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma to come good like in the second Test of the series.

Rahane started on a positive note and looked confident from the outset. He was decisive in his footwork and latched onto anything short or too full bowled at him. Looking at him running away with the game against spinners and Stokes, Root brought Anderson into the attack and he started with an absolute jaffa that beat the right-hander all end up.

Rahane was caught tentative against Anderson and the pacer was all over him in the first two overs of spell and finally caught him poking to an away going delivery to end the first session.

Rahane departed after a good looking but middling score of 27, and could not justify the clarion calls about putting his hands up when the team required him to come good with the bat on the second day.

All were reliant on Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant’s shoulder to resurrect India’s innings. Rohit batted with immense patience and it appeared he would not throw his wicket away—a criticism he has always faced in his playing days.

It needed a special delivery to get him out and the England vice-captain Ben stokes put his hands up to come up with a jaffa to beat a well-set Rohit trapped inside the crease.

India seemed to be walking off on the same path England batted on the first day, except they did not have a magic wand in the form of Rishabh Pant to change the game in a span of the session and by the end of the second day’s play, it appeared that Pant stood between India and England in a game that carries a spot for them in the WTC Final.