Three things we learned from the fourth Test between England and India / Photo: Darren Staples - AFP
Three things we learned from the fourth Test between England and India
India staged one of cricket's great escapes as they came away with a draw in the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Their resilient display, the latest chapter in an enthralling campaign, mean India head to next week's finale at the Oval in London with hope of ending the five-Test series all square at 2-2.
AFP Sport looks at three talking points from an engrossing match:
India face Bumrah dilemma again
Jasprit Bumrah's back injury earlier this year led India to announce the outstanding fast bowler would only feature in three games of the England series in a bid to manage his workload.
And the world's top-ranked Test bowler made his third appearance of the campaign in Manchester.
But with the fifth Test starting on Thursday, there is little time for Bumrah to recover after a tiring haul of 2-112 in 33 overs -- the first time the 31-year-old has conceded more than a hundred runs in a Test innings.
Curiously, the only match India have so far won this series is the one Bumrah missed, when the tourists thrashed England by 336 runs in the second Test at Edgbaston.
Stokes' commitment poses problems for England
A captain who can lead with both bat and ball is a huge asset, but the England management may yet have to save Ben Stokes from himself with an Ashes tour of Australia on the horizon.
The match at Old Trafford was a personal triumph for Stokes as he became just the fourth England cricketer to score a hundred and take five wickets in the same Test.
Stokes, 34, is also now only the third man in Test history to have scored 7,000 runs and taken 200 wickets after West Indies' Garry Sobers and South Africa's Jacques Kallis.
Yet there were times on Saturday, when he didn't bowl at all, when Stokes was in evident pain, clutching his thigh -- a concerning sign given his history of hamstring problems.
There seemed no point in him being on the field at that stage except a lengthy absence would have delayed his return to bowling duty.
And Stokes duly struck early Sunday to remove obdurate opener KL Rahul for 90.
Stokes has now sent down 140 overs -- the most he has bowled in any series -- and is the leading wicket-taker on either side with 17 at an average of 25.2.
But those fine figures are also a reflection of the relative lack of penetration offered by the rest of England's attack.
"I'll always try to run through a brick wall for the team," said Stokes after Sunday's draw, adding: "I don't want to eat my words but the likelihood I won't play (at the Oval) is very unlikely."
Resolute Gill
Gill made a sensational start to his debut series as India captain with three hundreds in four innings.
But when his next three knocks yielded a total of just 34 runs, it seemed the bubble had burst.
He then came in on a hat-trick with India in dire straits at 0-2 in their second innings at Manchester, still more than 300 runs adrift of England's mammoth first-innings 669.
But Gill responded with a marathon 103 spanning seven hours before further hundreds from Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar ensured a draw.
Gill has now set a new record for the most runs scored by an India batsman in a series against England of 722, surpassing team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal's 712 in 2023/24.
And at the Oval he could eclipse opening great Sunil Gavaskar's all-time India series record of 774 runs, set in a four-match campaign against the West Indies back in 1970/71.
T.Tapia--ECdLR
