London: India put themselves on threshold of victory in the second Test after reducing England to 67 for four at tea on the fifth and final day here at Lord’s.
Ishant Sharma removed Jonny Bairstow at the stroke of tea to keep the Test in India’s favour. India have to pick six England wickets in 38 overs.
England skipper Joe Root was unbeaten on 33.
India have to thank tail-enders Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, who added unbeaten 89 for the ninth wicket to help India take a sizeable lead and set a challenging 271-run total for England.
The Indians declared immediately after lunch. Bumrah and Shami were the stars again as they got rid of the two openers. Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley. This was the first time that English openers had both fallen for duck in a home Test.
No. 3 batsman Haseeb Hameed (9) added 42 for the third wicket before he fell leg-before to Ishant Sharma.
Bairstow (two off 24 balls) stuck around as Root dominated the 22-run partnership in 6.3 overs but Ishant Sharma again struck to keep India in.
Brief scores (Tea, Day 5): India 364 and 298/8 in 109.3 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 61, Mohammed Shami 56 not out, Cheteshwar Pujara 45, Jasprit Bumrah 34 not out, Mark Wood 3/51, Ollie Robinson 2/45, Moeen Ali 2/84) vs England 391 and 66/4 (J Root 33 not out, I Sharma 2/6)
