Shami strikes peg back hosts
Mohammed Shami took two wickets in two balls either side of lunch before running out England captain Joe Root for 48 in the fourth Test at Southampton on Saturday.
England were 152/5 in their second innings at tea on the third day, a lead of 125 runs, with Ben Stokes 20 not out and Jos Buttler 22 not out.
The match was still in the balance, however, with India not wanting to chase much more than 200 to win on a wearing pitch in their quest for a victory that would leave the five-match series level at 22 ahead of next week’s finale at The Oval.
Shami had Keaton Jennings (36) lbw with what became the last ball before lunch and the first ball of the second session saw him clean bowl Jonny Bairstow for a golden duck to leave England 92/4.
Root survived the hat-trick at the start of Shami’s next over.
But, for the second time this series, he was run out when well well set after he failed to beat Shami’s direct hit from mid-on after being called through for a needless run by Stokes. England started Saturday’s play on six without loss. They were then 21 runs behind, after Cheteshwar Pujara’s excellent 132 not out, his maiden Test century in England, had guided India to a first-innings total of 27, with recalled off-spinner Moeen Ali taking 5/63.
Alastair Cook (two not out), England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer, and fellow lefthanded opener Jennings (four not out) were both in need of runs. But Cook fell for 12 when, drawn into a loose drive off fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, he got an edge that second slip K.L. Rahul clung onto at the third attempt.
Ali, surprisingly promoted to number three instead of Root, became the latest victim of Ishant Sharma.