India Vs England Day 4 Fifth Test : Five Talking Points
Dec 19, 2016 at 8:01 PM
It was a day of batting brilliance by Indian youngster Karun Nair who remained unbeaten on 303 as India registered a huge total of 759. India still leads England by 270 runs as England ended the day at 12/0. England’s bowler looked completely out of their league as the Indian players dominated the proceedings on Day four of the fifth and final Test at Chennai. England has a huge task on the final day as India would hope to end the series on a winning note.
Karun Nair’s stupendous triple hundred: Karun Nair on Monday became the second Indian cricketer to score a triple hundred and the third cricketer to convert his maiden test hundred into a triple hundred.It was a stupendous innings from the Karnataka man who played the England bowlers with ease. It was also amazing to notice the pace at which he scored his runs as he took just 381 deliveries to reach the score hitting 32 fours and 4 sixes.
Indian lower order continues to shine: India is now a team whose batting depth is something to be proud of. The Indian lower order has supported the top order throughout the series and final match was no different. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja put up 181 and 138 run partnerships with Karun Nair respectively which helped the batsman reach the magical figure.
England’s failure to pick up 10 wickets: England once again in the series failed to pick up all 10 Indian wickets which left them humiliated. The Englishmen even struggled to dismiss the lower order who were scoring freely against them. The visitors looked completely out of ideas and waited for the declaration desperately.
England survives the dying moments: England came out to bat after India’s excellence with the bat and successfully survived the last few overs of the day. They scored 12 runs in the final few overs as both their openers are still there at the crease. They have the full day tomorrow to bat and would look to save the test match as their chances of winning it seems to have diminished.
Will Karun Nair’s Three-Hundred cost India the match?
Well, this question is a bit of dilemma. If I put myself in Virat Kohli’s shoes, I would probably have done the same. The reason to defend Kohli’s decision of allowing Karun and co. to bat deep into the fourth day is simple – The pitch is dead. There is hardly anything on offer for pacers and spinners alike. With India already leading 3-0 in this series, it made sense to secure this Test and in the process elongate India’s unbeaten streak to 18 Test matches which will happen tomorrow.
But from neutral’s point of view, this is hardly an advert of Test cricket and this must be addressed at the earliest by captains and teams alike in future.