Advantage England but all three results possible on day 5 in Chennai

Having conceded a first-innings lead of 241 runs, Indian bowlers did well to restrict England to 178 in their second innings before shaving off 39 runs from the target.

Starting the day with four wickets in the tally India did fairly well for the most part of the first session before Ravichandran Ashwin was dismissed on a rising delivery from Jack Leach.

RCB all-rounder Washington Sundar once again starred with the bat and missed out on a well-deserved century only because he ran out of partners at the other end.

England in the second innings were expectedly aggressive in their approach. However, India’s recent antics in Australia may just have forced them to look for extra cushion as they preferred to be all-out instead of declaring the innings despite having crossed the lead of 400 runs.

England’s tactics, though, made sense given the fact that the pitch, despite bearing the look of a dustbowl, has not started doing the tricks Chepauk wickets are known for.

With the odd ball keeping low, England would hope that the scoreboard pressure proves to be the undoing of the Indian batters on the last day.

For India, local boy Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with 6 for 61, while Shahbaz Nadeem bagged two wickets.

Chasing 420 to win, Rohit Sharma may have departed on a delivery that left a puff of dust even as it beat his defence to peg the stumps, but far as India are concerned, they may go for the target. Ishant Sharma in the post-day chat echoed the sentiments, revealing that the first session on day 5 will dictate if India decide to go for the target. 

With 9 wickets in hands and a couple of batters in the form of their life, this Indian side will keep England on their toes. The memories of 2008 too will be playing on their minds, when at the same venue the hosts had managed to chase down 387 on a 5th-day pitch.