This magnificent series will get the conclusion it deserves, even if it is a day later than expected. When bad light, soon followed by torrential rain, stopped play at 5.30 on the fourth evening, England needed 35 more runs for a 3–1 win, India four wickets for a 2–2 draw, and no one could safely say what would come next.
To add to the drama, Chris Woakes could be seen in the pavilion pacing up and down the like a father awaiting news from the delivery room.
He was dressed in whites and supporting his injured left shoulder with a sling, no doubt mulling over the possibility that he may be required to bat with one arm, like a modern-day Colin Cowdrey or Malcolm Marshall. Never mind health and safety: it would be in keeping with this extraordinary series if he walks out at No 11 with both sides on the brink of victory.
When play was abandoned shortly after 6pm, less than 40 minutes before the cut-off point, it brought to a premature end a day of gripping tension under grey skies which created a claustrophobic blanket over Kennington and offered India’s seamers constant encouragement.
Quite why the cricket had to resume by 6.42 was another matter, but then this sport loves to make a fuss over the small print. As a full house of 25,000 drifted away, the sun came out, as if taunting the match officials’ verdict that there was no prospect of a resumption. This was cricketus interruptus – deeply frustrating, and satisfying no one.
The play that preceded the anti-climax was high calibre, as England responded to the early wickets of Ben Duckett for 54 and Ollie Pope for 27 with a world-class stand of 195 in 35 overs between Joe Root and Harry Brook, each ticking off centuries that belied the testing conditions.
At 301 for three in pursuit of 374, England had almost broken the back of the chase. Almost, but not quite. Having brought up a breathtaking 91-ball century, his second of the series and 10th in all, Brook had thrashed two fours in a row off a tiring Akash Deep, and now went in search of a third. Had he succeeded, it might have finished India off.
But in trying to launch Deep over the off side, Brook swung so hard that he lost first his shape, then his bat, which flew towards square leg a split second after making contact with the ball, and providing a simple catch to Mohammed Siraj in the covers.
Jacob Bethell, asked to resume his Test career after playing a solitary red-ball game between the Hamilton Test in New Zealand in December and this one, put on a precious 31 with Root before advancing at Prasidh Krishna and dragging a horror shot on to middle stump. Bethell’s stock has fallen these past few days, and English cricket should ask itself whether he has been given the best chance to fulfil his talent.
Then came the moment India began to believe, as Root – his front pad peppered repeatedly by India’s quicks – spotted some tempting width outside off stump but failed to account for Krishna’s extra bounce. An edge flew fast to the right of wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, who athletically held on.
India went berserk, but Root – having marked his 39th Test hundred by briefly donning the white headband of his late mentor Graham Thorpe, whose life has been celebrated in this game – could barely drag himself up the stairs towards the dressing-room.
The two Jamies, Smith and Overton, managed just two singles from the 20 balls possible before bad light intervened – a passage of play that seemed to promise a wicekt every ball and put the efforts of Root and Brook into perspective.
Make no mistake: their partnership had been one of Bazball’s best. The series was at stake, India were in the mood, and the prospect of deadly seam movement lurked round every corner. But Brook led a counter-attack, boldly and brilliantly, and Root settled into his slipstream, the old master happy to yield to his apprentice. Yet it could have been over before it really began.
Brook had just launched Akash over extra cover for six when, on 19, he tried to hook Krishna for six more. Waiting on the long-leg fence was Siraj, who appeared not to realise how close he was to the boundary foam. Holding the catch, he took a fatal step back with his right boot, in an instant turning Indian delight into despair, and adding six to the total.
India, as they tend to, went on the defensive. Shubman Gill has enjoyed an other-worldly series with the bat, but his tactics have often been baffling, and England’s two best players – Root ranked No 1 in the world, Brook ranked No 3 – gave his bowlers the runaround.
It made equally little sense that Gill gave his three seamers so little respite, with spinners Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja bowling just eight overs all day. If India lose this game, their preference for an extra batsman over a fourth seamer will be scrutinised long and hard.
They may, of course, be spared the post-mortem, though it was unclear which side benefited more from the early finish. India were in the groove but exhausted, while England needed only a few blows from Smith to regain control but could hardly hit it off the square.
The second new ball is available this morning after 22 more deliveries, and England won’t want to leave themselves needing too many more before it arrives. Whatever happens, we are in for a thriller. As if it was ever going to be any other way.
