On day 4 of the Lord’s Test, Team India continued bowling as the England skipper Joe Root decided to continue batting despite already having a lead of 250+. Considering a heavy forecast for rain on the last 2 days, there were chances of declaration after Day 3, but the hosts did not and as the Indian players stepped on attempting to bowl them out as cheaply as possible and in place of Virat Kohli, it was Ajinkya Rahane who was commanding the troops.
Before the start of day’s play Indian skipper, Virat Kohli was there in the team huddle but didn’t walk out to the field. Reports now suggest that the Kohli has a stiff back and he was replaced by Ravindra Jadeja on the field. Late Saturday evening he had spent some time on the sidelines having experienced some uneasiness.
As far as the proceedings of the Test match are concerned, not a lot has gone as the Indian skipper would’ve planned. First up they opted to play two spinners on a wicket and in conditions that best suit seam bowlers. The Indian team being asked to bat first on day 2, lived a nightmare as James Anderson ran through half their team.
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They were bowled out for 107 runs as rain interrupted the proceedings at regular intervals and overcast conditions made life tougher for the batsmen. Kohli was the second-best scorer in the innings with his knock of 23 and despite showing a lot of intent, he was bagged by Chris Woakes.
During England’s innings, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma bowled decently and England was four down at 89 but that’s when Jonny Bairstow and Woakes got together and produced a 189-run partnership for the 5th wicket. While the all-rounder scored his maiden international century, Bairstow fell just seven short. However, Chris Woakes went on to make 137* as England declared at 396/7 with a lead of 289 runs.
Indian team is down at 15/2 with both the openers back in the hut and surprisingly Kohli didn’t come out to bat at no.4 he was off the field in earlier innings, he can’t bat for the first 37 minutes of the innings. Rahane came out to bat after the dismissal of KL Rahul.
