England’s hopes of chasing down a staggering 399 to win the second Test were dwindling fast on the fourth morning as wickets tumbled in Visakhapatnam.
The tourists delivered on their promise to embrace all out attack as they pursued their highest ever fourth-innings target but reached lunch in deep trouble on 194 for six.
With 205 still needed and Ben Stokes the last recognised batter, England appeared to be all out of miracles as India’s bowlers flexed their muscles.
Zak Crawley was alone in getting to grips with the challenge, making an impressive 73 before falling just before the break, but Ollie Pope and Joe Root both paid the price for their ultra-aggressive approach.
England scored 127 runs in the session but the price tag of five wickets was too steep as the hosts closed in on a series levelling win.
Rehan Ahmed, promoted late on Sunday evening as England’s so-called ‘nighthawk’, was first down for 23 as he stayed back to an Axar Patel delivery that kept low and trapped him lbw.
His contribution was always likely to be a bonus and the arrival of Pope felt like the start of the real contest. He proceeded to stroke his first ball to the cover boundary, signalling his intent from the off.
Pope hit five boundaries in quick time, all off Patel, but the Surrey man was keeping the bowlers interested too. His rush for runs quickly caught up with him when he slashed at a good ball from Ashwin, who had Rohit Sharma to thank for a brilliant one-handed catch at slip.
Crawley was showing greater authority at the other end, converting his overnight score of 29 into a polished half-century. Twice he showed the full face of the bat and drove star seamer Jasprit Bumrah back down the ground and he used his long stride well to manufacture a half-volley off Patel.
Root is more than capable of that kind of control but his brief stay was little short of chaotic. Two of his first three balls went for four, a perfectly timed reverse sweep followed by a ricochet off the glove, and he charged down the pitch to belt Patel for six.
The next ball was perilously close to pinning him lbw, saved by the umpire’s call on DRS, and he was gone in Ashwin’s next over. Rather than relying on timing he threw the kitchen sink at a slog-sweep and sprayed a leading edge off the toe end.
He has been carrying a painful finger injury for the past 24 hours and it is hard to know much trouble that was causing. But it was, by any measure, a frazzled innings and took his series tally to 52 in four attempts.
Crawley now had the responsibility of making the big century England needed to stay alive but it was not to be. Mis-reading the wrist-spin of Kuldeep Yadav as he attack from a leg-stump line, he was given lbw after a smart review by Sharma.
That was more than enough to give Indian the upper hand but with the ball beginning to reverse swing, Bumrah had one more up his sleeve. Jonny Bairstow was the victim this time, lbw after being beaten by a sliver of seam movement in the last over before the break.
IPL: Royals downed by big-hitting Capitals
Rajasthan Royals failed to chase down the Delhi Capitals, who claimed a 20-run victory in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.
Sanju Samson struck 86 off 46 balls for the second-placed Royals, but the Capitals successfully defended their haul of 221.
Jake Fraser-McGurk's 20-ball 50 set the tone for the Capitals, who are well in the play-off hunt with two matches remaining.
Fellow opener Abishek Porel plundered 65, with Tristan Stubbs adding a useful 41 towards the end of the innings, with Ravichandran Ashwin (3-24) the only Royals bowler to do significant damage.
Kuldeep Yadav (2-25) and Mukesh Kumar (2-30) led the way with the ball for Delhi, with the latter taking the vital wicket of Samson in the 16th over, leaving the Royals with too much to do from 162-4.
Delhi have won three of their last four matches and are making a late run for the play-offs, as one of four teams tied on 12 points.
Data Debrief: Samson soars
It took Samson just 31 minutes to amass 86 runs before he was eventually dismissed, with the loss of his wicket all but ending the Royals' hopes.
In the process, he moved into third place in the IPL run-scorers chart, up from 11th, with 471 runs to his name this season. He trails only Ruturaj Gaikwad (541) and Virat Kohli (542).
Seales takes 5-29 in second innings to help Sussex complete innings and 124-run rout of Derbyshire
Jayden Seales is now the leading wicket-taker after five rounds of the County Championship Division Two after another stellar performance to help Sussex rout Derbyshire by an innings and 124 runs at the County Ground in Derby from May 3-5.
Seales took 1-54 from 14 overs in the first innings as Derbyshire were bowled out for 246 in 63.3 overs after Sussex won the toss.
Luis Reece (50), Blair Tickner (47) and Aneurin Donald (44) were the top run-scorers against 2-6 from James Coles and 2-65, each, from Ollie Robinson and Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Cheteshwar Pujara then starred with the bat with 113 off 186 balls as Sussex piled up 479 off 109.4 overs in their first innings.
James Coles (72), Tom Alsop (64) and Tom Haines (58) provided good support for Pujara against three-wicket hauls from Daryn Dupavillon and Jack Morley.
Seales then produced an excellent spell of bowling to help restrict Derbyshire to just 109 all out in 26 overs.
He took 5-29 from his eight overs, taking his tally this season to 18 in four games. Danny Lamb also bowled well with 2-10 from four overs.
Full Scores: Derbyshire 246 off 63.3 overs (Luis Reece 50, Blair Tickner 47, Aneurin Donald 44, James Coles 2-6, Ollie Robinson 2-65, Fynn Hudson-Prentice 2-65) & 109 off 26 overs (Jayden Seales 5-29, Danny Lamb 2-10)
Sussex 479 off 109.4 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 113, James Coles 72, Tom Alsop 64, Tom Haines 58, Daryn Dupavillon 3-89, Jack Morley 3-117, Luis Reece 2-32)
IPL: Yadav century ends Mumbai's losing streak in style
Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten century to lead Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Monday.
Yadav hit a sensational 102 not out off 51 balls with six maximums as Mumbai successfully chased a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare, lifting them off the foot of the table.
Despite a slow start to the Indians' innings in which SRH took three wickets in the first five overs, Yadav’s introduction turned things around as he put on a partnership of 143 with Tilak Varma (37 not-out).
Sunrisers had started well, with Travis Head reeling off a quick 48, but Piyush Chawla (3-33) and Hardik Pandya (3-31) limited Hyderabad to 173-8, with Anshul Kamboj claiming his maiden IPL wicket by bowling out Mayank Agarwal.
Pat Cummins finished with a flurry, knocking 35 runs from 17 balls, and the Australia captain helped SRH put the Indians on the ropes when he dismissed Rohit Sharma in the fourth over.
Yet Mumbai would lose only one more wicket as Yadav inspired them to victory that snapped a four-match losing run.
Data Debrief: Yadav star of the show
This was Yadav's first IPL hundred of the season, with his knock including 18 boundaries (12 fours, six sixes), taking him up to 334 runs so far this campaign.
He is 16th in the overall rankings, and some 108 runs behind leader Virat Kohli.
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