Root century and day four wickets put England in the driving seat

Joe Root’s magnificent 180* saw England earn a first-innings lead at Lord’s before Mark Wood ran rampant through India’s top order on day four.

Root went into the third day’s play not-out on 48 alongside new batsman and fellow Yorkshireman, Jonny Bairstow (57).

The England skipper soon brought up his 51st Test half-century in style, with a crisp drive through the off-side racing to the boundary.

Although, Root would then take a backseat as Bairstow scored with regularity and looked to capitalise on his return to the red-ball side.

Having previously experienced problems against full-length deliveries in the longest format, Bairstow very rarely looked like being bowled and maintained a solid front-foot defence.

He also channelled the positive intent that has seen him become one of the most feared limited-over batsmen and brought up his first Test 50 exactly two years to the day since his last.

Yet as was the case in the second innings at Trent Bridge, the shorter ball would prove to be Bairstow’s downfall.  A change of angle would do the trick for Mohammed Siraj as Bairstow gloved an attempted pull into the hands of Virat Kohli to bring an end to a vital partnership worth 121.

As he does so well, Root ensured that the scoreboard kept ticking over and brought up his second century in as many games as he scampered a single through the off-side.

England’s captain once again came up big when his side desperately needed him. Despite arriving at the crease on a Siraj hat-trick ball at 23-2, Root played with composure and skill.

Both Jos Buttler (23) and Moeen Ali (27) played some eye-catching strokes and built meaningful partnerships with Root prior to being dismissed by Ishant Sharma, but if the hosts want to become a force again in Test cricket, they need batsmen who will make consistent scores and not elegant starts.

Though the falling wickets proved no issue for Root as he registered 150. Kohli must be sick of the sight of his opposite number who has averaged 72.1 runs against India this year. He even produced a Buttler-esque ramp shot in search of quick runs, as well as a slog-sweep for four.

Ishant found himself on a hat-trick after claiming the wicket of Sam Curran as the England tail failed to wag and were eventually bowled out with the last ball of the day for 391, with a lead of 27.

KL Rahul (5) and Rohit Sharma (21) had averaged 85 runs throughout the series as an opening partnership, therefore making early inroads into the Indian batting order was key to England’s chances of succeeding and Wood did just that.

After surviving a close LBW shout to Jimmy Anderson, Rahul edged the Durham seamer’s 93mph back-of-a-length delivery through to Buttler.

In spite of having a short ball dispatched over the deep-square-leg boundary for six just two balls previously, Wood stuck to the plan of bouncing Sharma out, and it eventually paid dividends as he hoisted into the hands of Moeen Ali at deep-square to leave India at 27-2.

Kohli then raced to 20 off just 25 deliveries before coming unstuck against Curran who already had an LBW call reviewed before finding the outside edge from over the wicket with his devious left-arm fast-medium.

Cheteshwar Pujara (42) and Ajinkya Rahane provided a strong resistance and prevented a severe collapse, even if the former took 35 balls to get off the mark and only scored 12 from 100 deliveries.

Rahane was slightly more adventurous and brought up his 50 off 125 balls, but the duo did the job that was needed and survived nearly 50 overs before Wood struck again.

Raw pace was the route to Pujara’s wicket as a length delivery jumped up with extra bounce and ballooned off the glove into the hands of Root in a close slip position.

Shortly after, Rahane would fall too as he attempted to play a full and non-spinning delivery off the back-foot and through the off-side on 61 with Moeen Ali claiming his first wicket of the game.

The Birmingham Phoenix star then produced a peach of a delivery to remove Ravi Jadeja (3) as the ball pitched on the middle stump and turned to an extent where it clipped off-stump to leave Jadeja astounded.

Bad light prevented England from taking further wickets and making their way through India’s longer-than-usual tail. Root did have the option of utilising spin, but after taking the new ball he wanted to employ seam.

Ultimately, we are set for a thrilling fifth day. India will rely heavily on the talent of Rishabh Pant (14*) and hope Ishant can hang around whilst batting at eight for the first time in his career.

Early wickets for England and they will be extremely firm favourites, but remember, this is Test cricket and anything can happen.

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