England vs India, 4th Test: 27 runs lead might not appear to be enough but it will matter
After a fighting knock by Cheteshwar Pujara India took a slender lead of 27 runs. Pujara played exceptionally well and he was instrumental in getting this lead. It was a fitting reply to his critics who doubted his ability in overseas conditions. Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma ably helped him to reach his century.
27 run lead is not big by any stretch of the imagination. Experts might say that it doesn't matter and it's a second inning shoot-out now, but, it does matter.
To understand why it matters, we don't have to go back too much in history. We need to take a look at the first Test of this series.
During the first Test, England took 13 runs lead in the first innings and India lost that Test by a margin of 31 runs. First inning lead of 13 runs comprised almost 50% of the winning margin. This tells you that in a closely fought game every run matters and if, India would have got 13 runs lesser to chase in the first Test the result might have been different.
The fourth Test also appears to be heading to a tight finish with the batting of both teams faltering every now and then. In such a scenario every run will matter. Whatever England will score, India will get 27 runs less to chase out of that total.
To give you another perspective, 27 runs are just 4 runs short of the winning margin of the first Test.
If India can restrict England to anything below 250 on a decent batting wicket like this, it will be advantage India. Chasing a total of 225 should not be a big problem on this wicket, provided Indian batsmen are willing to dig deep and slug it out. Now, this Test match would require Indian batsmen to take out some orthodox Test match batting from their repertoire and it will be theirs for the taking.