Unless the elements conspire to thwart what has been a riveting contest, the opening Test of the India-England series could go either team’s way at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
England, having wiped off the deficit of 95 runs, threatened to run amok on the back of Joe Root’s stupendous 109 but Jasprit Bumrah’s five for 64 restricted their lead to 208.
By stumps on the penultimate day, India had knocked 52 of those runs for the loss of KL Rahul’s wicket. Virat Kohli’s men will fancy their chances but it will be a test of temperament and application for the batsmen to come up trumps with another 157 needed.
The shortcomings lay exposed by one James Anderson in the first innings and it will take one enormous effort to not repeat the same mistakes.
The English batsmen too displayed rustiness against lateral movement of the ball from the Indian pace quartet and it was left to Root to pull them out of the rut.
Sam Curran threatened to put the match beyond India’s grasp after tea but Bumrah proved to be lethal with the second new ball.
The Indians’ positive intent was evident during the critical 65 minutes of batting towards the end of the day.