Live England vs India, first Test: Score and latest updates from day four
10:38AM
Listen: Sir Geoffrey Boycott's preview
10:38AM
Thoran agogo
Greetings from Headingley, where the sun is trying to poke through, but the heatwave is over. The weather generally is chillier, cloudier, and windier than the last week, and there was a decent dump of rain overnight. It means a first run-out for the sweater I packed for the trip. England won't mind that as they look to take eight Indian wickets sharpish.
Pleasant evening for Team Telegraph last night, having some Keralan cuisine at Uyare, the new sister restaurant of Tharavadu, which has been a favourite of ours for years. Comes highly recommended!
It was a bit quieter walking into the ground this morning. The first three days were sold out but the working week and the Bazballers are not good for day four ticket sales. Expecting to be around two-thirds full, but maybe we will get a few walk-ups.
10:33AM
Good day to bowl
Welcome to Leeds on a much cooler and cloudier morning , the stifling heat of the first two days a thing of the past. Good bowling day in other words, and plenty in the pitch for a spinner too by way of turn and uneven bounce. A draw very unlikely if no rain.
10:29AM
Day four: What can England chase?
Good morning and welcome to day four of the first Test between England and India which begins with the touring side 96 runs ahead with their captain, Shubman Gill, and most experienced top-order batsman, KL Rahul, at the crease with eight wickets left. After another sensational day of cricket in Leeds, truly the greatest ground for drama and knife-edge Tests, England cannily fought their way to near parity with some jaw-dropping counter-attacking and clever, relentless strike rotation. Those who see 'Bazball' as purely slogging ought to watch Chris Woakes' innings from yesterday.
Shoaib Bashir has a vital role to play today. The cracks that caused three deliveries to take off alarmingly and fly for four byes on Sunday are too far outside the right-handers' off-stump to be used effectively but there was turn for Ravindra Jadeja and there ought to be plenty of rough on both sides given how many overs were bowled round the wicket on days one, two and three. Of course, on the principle of what's good for the goose Jadeja himself could make hay tomorrow from one end to back up the incomparable Jasprit Bumrah and given how poorly England have played spin on turning tracks on their last visits to Pakistan and India, their confidence in chasing 300 ought to be tempered.
This side have shifted the historical parameters of possibility in fourth-innings chases over the past three years but there's no Jonny Bairstow here and Ben Stokes, back to bowling near his best, continues to look badly out of nick with the bat, as if he's over-thinking his approach.
India are marginally favourites, 11/10 compared with England's 13/10 but it's a breezy, cloudy, cool day in Leeds and while the rain has stopped there were showers earlier this morning. Ideal conditions to bowl seam up.
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