Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett got England off to a flying start in their first innings of the fourth Test before India ensured both openers fell agonisingly short of centuries.
England were 225-2 at stumps on the second day at Old Trafford, a deficit of 133 runs, after they dismissed India for 358, with captain Ben Stokes taking five wickets and an injured Rishabh Pant making a gutsy fifty for the tourists.
The hosts are 2-1 up in this five-match contest, and a win in Manchester would see England clinch the series ahead of next week’s finale in London at the Oval.
Crawley (84) and Duckett (94) shared an opening stand of 166 — just the duo’s fifth century partnership in 53 Test innings together.
The inconsistent Crawley, labelled the “luckiest player to have won as many England caps as he has” by 2005 Ashes-winning skipper Michael Vaughan, played some trademark stylish drives, but he also survived a confident lbw appeal on 26 from Mohammed Siraj after offering no stroke to the fast bowler.
Crawley, however, fell frustratingly short of what would have been merely his sixth century in 58 Tests when he nicked Ravindra Jadeja to slip, where KL Rahul held a fine low catch.
It was the end of a sparkling 113-ball innings, featuring 13 fours and a six. Duckett was no slouch either, taking three fours off debutant Anshul Kamboj’s first over in Test cricket.
Kamboj was only in the side after fellow paceman Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out due to a knee injury suffered during England’s dramatic 22-run win at Lord’s last week.
But Duckett also flicked Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s top-ranked Test bowler, off his pads for two fours in three balls.
The left-hander was eyeing his second hundred of the series, following a brilliant 149 in England’s five-wicket win in the first Test at Headingley, when he edged an intended cut off Kamboj to reserve wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, deputising for the injured Pant.
As Kamboj celebrated his maiden Test wicket, a crestfallen Duckett trudged off with England 197-2.
Pant returned to action earlier Thursday after a severe foot injury.
The vice-captain had to retire hurt on 37 during Wednesday’s opening day when struck a painful blow on the foot attempting an audacious reverse-sweep off a Chris Woakes yorker.
After Shardul Thakur fell to Stokes for 41, leaving India 314-6, Pant slowly made his way down the dressing room steps and out into the middle.
The left-hander’s movements were restricted, but runners are no longer allowed in international cricket.
However, there was nothing Pant could do as Stokes cleaned up the tail at the other end.
When Kamboj was caught behind off the England skipper for a duck it meant Stokes had his first five-wicket haul in a Test since a career-best 6-22 against the West Indies at Lord’s in 2017.
The all-rounder finished with 5-72 in 24 overs, a fine return after his future as a lively medium-pacer was threatened by repeated hamstring trouble.
Pant reached his half-century in 69 balls, including a pulled six off Jofra Archer despite his lack of mobility, before he was bowled by the paceman for 54.
India resumed earlier on Thursday on 264-4 and, in overcast, bowler-friendly conditions, soon slumped to 266-5 as Archer struck with just his fifth ball of the day, an excellent delivery inducing Jadeja, on a run of four successive fifties, to edge low to second slip where Harry Brook held a sharp low catch to remove the all-rounder for 20.
Stokes went against history by sending India into bat on Wednesday. No team winning the toss and bowling first has ever won a Test at Old Trafford.
But India needs to make history of their own if they are to maintain their hopes of a series victory, as they have never won a Test at Old Trafford.
The fifth India-England Test will be played at the Oval on 31 July.
READ: Rampant New Zealand outplay Zimbabwe in tri-series clash
