England in control after middle-order's defiance
After another hard-fought day, England were in driver's seat and India were trailing in the 4th Test at Southampton. They started pretty well with Bumrah getting Cook. KL Rahul, at second slip, held on to the ball to send the former English Skipper to pavilion. Then he took another spectacular catch to remove Moeen Ali off Ishant.
As England's no.3 experimentation backfired, Kohli got under the skin-off Joe Root who demoted himself to no.4. Kohli's aggressive approach towards the host's captain was the major highlight of the day.
Root and Jennings steadied the innings with a 50-run partnership. But as things were looking good for the hosts, India came back strongly with Shami's double strikes. He got Jennings plumb in-front on the last ball before lunch. Then he ran through the defence of Bairstow with the first ball after lunch.
Shami again gave another breakthrough with his fielding brilliance. With a direct throw from mid-on he ran out the England Skipper. Suddenly, India were ahead with England leading by just around 100 runs with half of their team were back in the pavilion.
Again for the third consecutive day, India let the advantage slip away. But take nothing away from Stokes and Buttler. The duo added 50-runs on the board and they tackled India's spin master Ravichandran Ashwin who looked off color throughout the day.
Though he got Stokes to edge one to first slip Rahane, by that time England had already had lead in excess of 150. Then Sam Curran, who is impressing everyone with every innings, joined hands with Buttler to expand England's lead.
But India struck with the new ball as Ishant got Buttler LBW. England's new 'wicket-keeper' batsman had played exceptionally well and added two match-winning 50-run partnerships with Stokes and Curran.
Shami then got Rashid with the last ball of the day, edged to keeper Pant. But England will be pretty happy with their batsmen's efforts as the lead was already 233 and with Sam Curran still there, they can add more.
India had a mixed-day with Ashwin's mediocre day. Now they have to chase a daunting total to keep the series alive. With sun beating down throughout the day, the pitch became very dry and uneven.
It will be a tough ask for the Indian batsmen in the fourth innings to face Mo but cricket is a game of uncertainty. We can't rule out India's chances and a series deciding day awaits for the cricket lovers around the World.