India’s injured Rishabh Pant hits 54 after surprise return before England takes control of 4th test
India’s injured Rishabh Pant hits 54 after surprise return before England takes control of 4th test
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — England might have thought it had seen the last of Rishabh Pant for now.
Pant had other ideas.
After retiring early on day one of the fourth test at Old Trafford with a foot injury, Pant returned Thursday, albeit with a limp, and posted a half century as India reached 358 all out, with England captain Ben Stokes taking 5-72.
“He was in a lot of pain and we have seen him doing a lot of amazing things. This was just another amazing thing that he did for the team,” India’s Shardul Thakur said.
While Pant’s involvement, after reportedly sustaining a fracture, came as a surprise and prolonged the visitors’ first innings, England went on to take control of the match with a blistering opening partnership of 166 by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.
The hosts reached 225-2 at stumps on day 2 at Old Trafford to trail by 133 runs, largely thanks to the explosive batting of Crawley (84) and Duckett (94), which included 26 fours between the pair — 13 each — and a six for Crawley.
“The boys are happy tonight. We’re in a good position,” Crawley said.
Ollie Pope (20 not out) and Joe Root (11 not out) are at the crease.
England leads the five-match series 2-1.
Gutsy from Pant
Pant’s fitness to bat was the main talking point after day one when his showmanship got the better of him, and an attempted reverse sweep off Chris Woakes saw the ball deflect onto his right foot. The charismatic batter lay on the field in pain and had to leave on a cart, with his foot badly swollen.
India resumed on 264-4 and England took the wickets of Ravindra Jadeja (20) and Thakur (41) in the morning session.
But Pant’s return presented an unexpected obstacle for England when he came out to replace Thakur, despite overnight reports that he’d sustained a fracture. India did not confirm the injury.
Walking slowly and uncomfortably, Pant made his way to the crease to cheers from all round the stadium and resumed his innings on 37.
“Not many people in the world would be able to come out and bat like he did on one foot,” Crawley said. “We didn’t know quite where to put the field in terms of ‘Is he going to be able to run a two?’”
It was a gutsy display from Pant, who went on to add 17 more runs to get to 54 before being bowled by Jofra Archer, who sent the stumps crashing.
England charge
England wasted no time in chasing down India’s total with Crawley and Duckett on a mission.
The hosts were 77-0 at tea in reply, with Duckett hitting 43 off 41 balls with seven fours, while Crawley was 33 off 44.
The pair kept on finding the boundary when play resumed and both werelooking on course for centuries until India’s breakthrough.
Crawley was caught by KL Rahul at slip off Jadeja and Duckett was caught by substitute Dhruv Jurel off Anshul Kamboj. Duckett’s head dropped as the realization sunk in that he’d fallen just six short of a test century.
Brilliant Stokes
The England captain is now the leading wicket-taker for the series after his haul of five in the fourth test.
Stokes added the wickets of Thakur (41), Washington Sundar (27) and Kamboj (0) to those of Shubman Gill (12) and Sai Sudharsan (61) on day one.
Stokes has 16 wickets for the series and this was the first time he’d taken five in a match for eight years.
“He’s a phenomenal cricketer and it’s so good to have him on our team as a leader and, apart from his skills, it’s just his attitude to keep coming and coming and coming,” Crawley said. “He’s a fantastic bowler that goes under the radar. He’s bowled phenomenally well this series and got its rewards today.”
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
By JAMES ROBSON
AP Sports Writer
