SOUTHAMPTON, Aug 30: Indian bowlers maintained their stranglehold despite an unbroken 53-run stand for the seventh wicket between all-rounders Moeen Ali and Sam Curran as England reached 139 for six at tea on the opening day of the fourth Test.
Moeen (30 batting) and Curran (27 batting) carried a rescue act after Mohammed Shami�s (2/38) double blow left England tottering at 86 for 6 at one stage.
The second session proved to be slightly better for the hosts as it yielded 82 runs for the loss of two wickets.
Post lunch, Jos Buttler (24) was out caught at slip by skipper Virat Kohli off Shami�s bowling.
Ben Stokes (23) continued to defend stoically, lasting 79 deliveries. Shami bowled brilliantly, continuing from where he left off in the morning session. And it brought him reward when he trapped Stokes lbw coming round the wicket. It was a sharp inswinger that was hitting the leg-middle.
Curran and Ali then came together, and held fort until the tea break. They showed a lot of patience, in particular Curran who stayed calm and went for his strokes whenever opportunity presented itself. On evidence he was England�s best batsman so far in this innings.
While Ravichandran Ashwin (0-9) bowled six over, Indian pacers still found assistance from the pitch.
Jasprit Bumrah (2-35) bowled quite a few unplayable deliveries. But they couldn�t break this partnership, which crossed 50 off 94 deliveries and also took England past the 100-mark in the 39th over.
Earlier, Indian speedsters rocked the England top-order with an inspiring spell as the home team were left reeling at 57 for 4 at lunch on the first day of the fourth Test.
Bumrah, Ishant Sharma (1/11 in 11 overs) and Hardik Pandya (1/37 in 6 overs) shared the spoils as the English top-order looked clueless against a sustained lateral movement generated by the trio.
Bumrah was handed the new ball and he posed problems from the very beginning.
Keaton Jennings (0) shouldered arms to an ugly fashion to an incoming delivery across the stumps, and was adjudged leg before in the third over.
England should have been two-down in the fifth over, when Bumrah also trapped Joe Root (4), on 2, plumb lbw. When the on-field umpire didn�t agree, DRS review showed that the bowler had over-stepped.
Root didn�t survive for long though, adding only 14 runs for the second wicket. He was out leg before, this time to Ishant, who bowled a beautiful inswinger that zoomed into hit below Root�s knee.
Scorecard
England 1st Innings: A Cook c Kohli b Hardik Pandya 17, K Jennings lbw b Bumrah 0, J Root lbw b Ishant 4, J Bairstow c Pant b Bumrah 6, B Stokes lbw b Shami 23, J Buttler c Kohli b Shami 21, MM Ali not out 30, SM Curran not out 27. Extras: (B-6, LB-3, NB-2) 11. Total: (For six wickets in 51 overs) 139. Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-15, 3-28, 4-36, 5-69, 6-86. Bowling: JJ Bumrah 15-3-35-2, I Sharma 11-6-11-1, HH Pandya 6-0-37-1, Mohammed Shami 13-1-38-2, R Ashwin 6-2-9-0. � PTI
