India v England, 4th Test Day Four: Five Things We Learned

England need a miracle to salvage the series, trailing India by 49 runs, with just four wickets remaining and a day to play. Here’s what we learned from day four in Mumbai…

MAN OF THE DAY – Virat Kohli (235)

Yesterday’s man is today’s, too – and likely to be for many a day to come. We speculated that Virat Kohli wouldn’t rest until he had taken his side to a bumper lead and the best player in the world kept his side of the deal. It wasn’t just the additional 88 runs to his overnight score, but the intent: those runs came off 99 balls, featuring eight fours and, once Jayant Yadav had departed and the run-scoring burden fell entirely on the captain’s shoulders, a six right back over Chris Woakes’ head and into the stands. That, remarkably, was only his second six in Tests in 2016 – a year that has seen him score 1,200 runs. Just to underline how dynamic and wide-reaching Kohli is, he cleared the ropes 38 times in the last edition of the IPL – more than any other batsman. With this, his third double hundred of the year and a new record score for an Indian captain, he improved his Test numbers so that he now averages over fifty in all three international formats.

JAYANT STRIDE

He won’t make the shortlist for Man Of The Series, but Jayant Yadav’s contributions, whether runs or wickets, have come at crucial junctures and given India a surer footing in each of the three Tests he has played. Today, he was finally rewarded with the memento of a maiden Test hundred. Coming in as the last recognised batsman, he built on Ravi Jadeja’s work and alongside Kohli, ticked along. However, he took the lead in the morning session, as 128 runs were pillaged in 29 overs. His 104 – just his third first class century – was the highest score for an India number nine. England might have come to India boasting the strongest tail, but the hosts have outgunned them when it really mattered.

DRS IS THE WINNER

A positive takeaway from this series has been that, after being opposed to DRS for eight years, the benefits of the review system have been clear to see for India and all at the BCCI. Its value was never more evident than in the evening when two big errors from umpire Bruce Oxenford – a caught behind and caught at short leg dismissal, both against Jonny Bairstow – were reviewed in double quick time, having been given out. The ease of the process, the clarity of the technology and the righting of a wrong, all played out on the big screen, while adding an extra dimension for the spectator, will hopefully be a big step towards a universal review system. The next step is for the ICC to foot the bill to ensure nations with limited resources can reap the benefits of DRS, rather than leaving things as they are now, with the costs picked up by the host broadcaster.

TON TO NONE

Rarely will a debutant have experienced the full gamut of cricket at the highest level quite in the way that Keaton Jennings has. The Durham opener marked his maiden Test with an assured 112 on day one, leading the way in what looked an impressive first innings total of 400. However, the harsh realities of the game brought him back down to earth with two days in the dirt, followed by a first-ball duck in the second innings. Still, he at least has a place in the record books as the first debutant in the game’s history to follow a first innings hundred with a golden duck in the second.

WHAT NEXT

England have the smallest of sniffs. Joe Root’s 77 was a courageous attack on India’s spinners – and occasionally the senses – that helped cut India’s first innings lead from 231 to 49 in 47 overs. Assisted by Bairstow, who remains unbeaten on 50, they have shown that it is possible to score quickly and conventionally, which should encourage the likes of Jos Buttler (due in first thing tomorrow morning), Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid, who all need to bring something to the party, else India take the spoils in emphatic fashion. Frankly, it’s all over bar the shouting – it’s just a matter of how noisy England want to be.