England once again felt the pinch of India’s lower order.

When captain Virat Kohli departed before lunch on Sunday, India’s lead was 212 — probably not enough on a pitch which looked still quite good for batting. With six wickets down, the visitors did not really have the upper hand.

Yet, India managed to hit back, thanks to Shardul Thakur (60) and Rishabh Pant (50), as their 100-run partnership for the seventh wicket propelled the visitors’ second innings total to a formidable 466 late in the penultimate day of the fourth Test at The Oval in London.

An imposing target of 368 stared at England as India, for the first time in the Test, were in a dominating position.

However, openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed did a decent job, remaining unscathed during the rest of the day’s play, taking England to 77/0 at stumps.

An intriguing final day is on the cards, though the heat is still on England as they need to keep showing the resolve required to tackle the pressure of batting on a Day V wicket. The Oval wicket has no demons, but the rough patches on the pitch that Ravindra Jadeja is trying to exploit will be crucial for India. Once again, one wonders if it would have been better to have Ravichandran Ashwin too in the XI.

During India’s second essay, Umesh Yadav (25) and Jasprit Bumrah (24) too got runs against a tired England attack. Earlier, resuming on the overnight score of 270/3, India slipped to 312/6, with Kohli being the sixth wicket to fall. He again edged outside the off stump, perishing this time to a straighter one from off-spinner Moeen Ali. But England could not really build on that momentum.

Shardul show

Shardul has made immensely significant contributions in this Test with the bat.

Though the pitch in use at The Oval has been quite friendly for the batsmen, Shardul’s exploits with the bat carry greater value since they came under pressure. In the first innings, his counterattacking innings had pushed England on the backfoot; in the second, his strokeful half-century — second on the trot —helped India tighten their grip on the game.

Credit would also go to Pant for not being his usual reckless self with the bat.

Injury concerns

Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara didn’t take the field when England came out to bat on Sunday evening.

While Rohit has discomfort in his left knee, Pujara is down with pain in his left ankle, which was evident while he was batting on Saturday.

The Board’s medical team was assessing the conditions of both the batsmen.