Prior Century Helps England Set India Target Of 458

Going into the fifth and the final day of the Lord’s game, England will know that they will need to bulldoze into strong, but an injury-plagued Indian batting line-up. The equation has boiled down to Indians needing a rather improbable 378 further runs to win the Test, England requiring to get nine wickets, but most importantly, there is a possibility of 98 overs which India need to bat to save the game.

At one stage on the fourth day, the Indians looked like getting away when Ishant Sharma rocked them with a four-wicket haul. England were reduced to 62 for five at one stage and when they lost Eoin Morgan as their sixth wicket, they were ahead by only 295 runs. Trouble loomed for the home team.

Unfortunately for the Indians, by then, the lack of a fourth bowler had begun to hurt the team. With the steam run out, the pair of Matt Prior and Stuart Broad took toll; not only stalling the quick fall of wickets but also scoring the runs with a free will.

The partnership added an unbeaten 162 runs, enough to push the English side ahead by a total that has never been chased down in the history of Test cricket earlier. Prior got to his century before the declaration came while Broad followed up his first innings duck with an unbeaten 74.

India, who had gone into the Test match with the loss of Virender Sehwag to a shoulder injury and had their issues compounded when Zaheer Khan pulled out due to a hamstring strain, saw a couple of other fitness on the fourth day. Sachin Tendulkar did not take field because of a viral infection for the entire day while Gautam Gambhir was hit on his elbow while fielding close-in and had to be to a hospital.

This meant that Rahul Dravid had to open the innings with Abhinav Mukund and while Gambhir will be fit to bat at the number four position tomorrow, Tendulkar will not be allowed to come onto the crease till the number seven position. India did lose Mukund as their first wicket, but Dravid and VVS Laxman had seen them through to the close without much ado.

A hard, grinding fifth and the final day at Lord’s beckons.