Chennai: The historical MA Chidambaram saw another historical moment in the making when youngster Karun Nair, playing his third Test match, scored a brilliant 303 not out and made sure India do not bat second in the match after they posted a 759/7 on the board, their highest total against anyone.
Interestingly Karun Nair only got this chance because two of the regular batting order are injured, so that means only a good selection problem to have for the Indian Captain and Coach. The tour only got tougher for Alaistar Cook and his dropped catch of Karun Nair when he was on 34 on Day 3 turned out to be an expensive mistake and England can only dream of a hard fought out draw from here and Cook needs to lead the charge somehow. This wasn’t the only chance that was given to Nair, on 154 he edged the ball, but the umpire called not out and England had no reviews left. On 217, Joe Root missed another half chance and Nair survived another stumping opportunity in his 240’s.
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Had England taken their chances, they could still have had some hope of playing for a win. Now that option is completely out of the equation. When playing for a draw the team is already on the backfoot and although Cook and Jennings have made it through to the stumps together and this Chennai surface isn’t as spin friendly as some of the other Indian wickets, playing Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on a Day 5 wicket with plenty of fielders around the bat and surviving 90 overs will take a lot of doing from the England batsmen and this is going to be a test of ability as well as nerves.
If England manage a draw from here, it would take a heroic effort and would be a very satisfying performance from the batsmen. Cook and Root, as is so often written about them, hold the key and need to take the charge. While India can certainly sense an innings victory, a tough day lies ahead of England.
At Stumps Day 4
England 477 & 12/0 (5.0 overs)
India 759/7d
England trail by 270 runs with 10 wickets remaining