WATCH: Lord’s pitch misbehaves; Pujara, Jadeja dismissed by unplayable deliveries
India ended Day 4 of the second Test against England on a bad note as they lost a few wickets in quick succession. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja were two of the three wickets to fall during the last session of the day and both of them perished to unplayable balls.
Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had managed to reconstruct the Indian innings after the Indian top order collapsed early. Both of their performances over the last two years has been brought to light recently and people all over the internet have criticised the pair. However, Pujara and Rahane batted very well and put up a 100-run partnership in an act of rescue.
Pujara was the first to be dismissed as he was undone by a Mark Wood delivery. The ball bounced more than it should have and Pujara was caught by surprise. He managed to get bat on ball in the nick of time but the ball ended up falling in Joe Root’s grateful hands.
The 100-run partnership comes to an end
Pujara perishes for 45 immediately after hitting Wood for a boundary
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This was not the only instance where an Indian batsman fell prey to the misbehaviour of the pitch. Ravindra Jadeja, who has been in very good batting form of late, got clean bowled by Moeen Ali.
WATCH: James Anderson dismisses Pujara and Kohli on back to back deliveries
The off spinner was bowling round the wicket to the left hander and the ball spun much more than expected. Jadeja expected the ball to meet the bat on the line of the middle stump but the ball spun a fair amount and went on to the hit the off stump. All Jadeja could do was walk back to the dressing room as the ball was unplayable to say the least.
Moeen works his magic again
Jadeja is clean bowled by an unplayable delivery
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India lead by 154 runs with 4 wickets remaining on the eve of day 5. England are expected to win the match from here, but India will not go without a fight. The Indian tail has made life hard for the opposition recently, but Rishabh Pant will be key on day 5. England will look to wrap up the Indian tail soon and chase down the total to take a 1-0 lead in the series.