India ended at 105/3 taking a lead of 78 runs over England at tea on the fourth day second test. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are fighting strong against the Andersoon-Wood attack. 

India’s lead against England in the second innings in still slender and Pujara and Rahane need to persist in the middle to take India to a fighting total. The duo has put up a splendid show of test cricket batting fending off the bad deliveries but also going after the batting when required. 

Early on, India’s champion batter in the first innings, KL Rahul was dismissed for just 5 runs. Rohit Sharma tried to go on the offensive but lost his wicket to Mark Wood at 21. 

Pujara and Rahane have not had the best series so far. 

Pujara has made 4, 12* and 9 in the three innings in England so far, while Rahane managed just 5 and 1 in the two innings he got to play. So this is an opportunity for the Pujara-Rahane partnership to turn the game around for India. 

The first match of the five-Test series ended in a draw after the final day’s play was washed out.

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

England (Playing XI): Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root(c), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson.