England Sense Win As India Falter Against Spin

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England's continuation of winning every session stretched into the fourth day with India struggling to save the third Test at the Ageas Bowl. For India, though, there was scant change in fortunes from day three: like in the first innings, India went into stumps in a precarious situation, well set batsmen failed to push on and Moeen Ali had two wickets. India needed to bat out 90 overs with the 445-run target seemingly out of reach after closing the day on 112 for 4, 333 behind.
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While India's frontline bowlers struggled to contain the England batsmen in the second innings, it only needed England's part-timers to inflict most damage. Three out of India's top four were victims of Moeen and Joe Root, while the fourth was run out. Lapses of concentration were India's biggest bane in a game their batsmen needed large reserves of. Ajinkya Rahane (18*) and Rohit Sharma (6*) played out the rest of the day but another 90 overs remain.

Like the last three days, England continued to dominate while India continued to play catch up. Twenty-five balls was all it took for England's bowlers to wrap up India's innings for 330, and despite the visitors falling short of the follow-on target by 39 runs, Alastair Cook led his team out to bat for a second time, 239 ahead.

A rapid second essay, powered by captain Cook's 70* and Joe Root's 41-ball 56 prompted England's second declaration of the match on 205 for 4, setting India a target of 445. England scored at over five runs an over, giving themselves little over four sessions to bowl India out defending a total that has never been chased before.

In reply, India looked rather settled as Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan began well. India's openers haven't put on 50 in an away Test since Gautam Gambhir and Abhinav Mukund three years ago, and the trend continued as Vijay ran himself out. Dhawan set off for a quick single and Stuart Broad's underarm throw hit the stumps directly to find Vijay inches short for 12.

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Cheteshwar Pujara hadn't converted any of his previous starts, and the introduction of Moeen into the attack didn't allow him one this time, his loose drive taking an edge which Chris Jordan brilliantly hung on to at first slip. Another 50-run partnership followed, this time between Dhawan and Virat Kohli, but the curse of the part-time spinner continued to lurk and both fell to similar dismissals. Dhawan was drawn into a drive on 37 that found the outside edge of his bat, while Kohli nicked behind to Jos Buttler for 28.

England needed quick runs on the board after choosing not to enforce the follow-on, but Sam Robson was out early to Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 13 as Dhawan held on to a catch at first slip, but Dhoni's decision to bring on the part-time spinners indicated resignation as the hosts ran away with the advantage.

Gary Ballance was unfortunate as the umpire adjudged him caught at short leg to Ravindra Jadeja for 38, even though replays suggested otherwise. England resisted the temptation to promote Jos Buttler up the order to boost the scoring rate, but Ian Bell (23, 21b, 4x4) and Root ensured they kept the momentum during the second session. Bell was bowled round his stumps as Jadeja got one to turn in from the rough and Root suffered the same fate, but his sixth Test half-century had meant England had opened up a 444-run lead, enough to sound the declaration.

James Anderson's short ball ploy had earlier resulted in the wickets of overnight batsmen MS Dhoni and Mohammed Shami as he finished with 5 for 53 on his 32nd birthday, his 16th five-wicket haul in Test cricket and third against India as they made short work of India's first innings. While Dhoni was out fending an Anderson short ball without adding to his overnight 50, Mohammed Shami's dismissal was a mirror image of Cheteshwar Pujara's wicket on the third day, and India could only add seven more runs to their total.

India's bowlers came out hoping they didn't let England get away with too many, they found little help from either the surface or the bowlers. After Robson's wicket, Bhuvneshwar was caned for 59 from his 10 overs while Shami bowled just four, sounding alarms over his place in the fourth Test.