This is chastening for England and you hope a steep learning curve. They had a chance in this match, let it slip and now face a big defeat.
India’s massive lead continues to grow. They are 440 ahead and Ravi Ashwin is on his way back to bowl in the fourth innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal is 149 and debutant Sarfaraz Khan hammering the spinners. Shubman Gill was robbed of a hundred when he was barbecued by the nightwatchman, but apart from those two wickets, there has been little for England. They even had more review problems, appealing an inside edge lbw then failing to look at a not out in the next over that would have been overturned. It has been one of those days.
Ben Duckett last night said he hoped India scored ‘the more the better” which as far as I’m aware is the complete opposite of what teams are supposed to want in cricket. Anyway, we know England will bat at their usual tempo when they are sent in. They are not capable of defending and getting the block out. All they can hope is that India bat too long, but a 2-1 lead feels inevitable.
England have now spent more than 200 overs in the field, most of it in boiling heat. There is quite a long travel day east across India to Ranchi on Tuesday and with the fifth Test starting on Friday, not long for players to recover. Anderson and Wood will surely be rested but what effect will all this have on the spinners? Hartley, Rehan and Root have not had this workload before. Apart from Duckett’s innings, there is not a lot to cling on to. It could have been very different.