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India strike late after Cook and Hameed show defiance
- Updated: November 20, 2016
England 255 (Stokes 70, Bairstow 53, Root 53, Ashwin 5-67) and 87 for 2 (Root 5*) need another 318 runs to beat India 455 and 204 (Kohli 81, Broad 4-33, Rashid 4-82) Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
In an era of faster, harder, shorter – when the virtue of a young batsman is increasingly judged by strike-rate than than overs endured – Haseeb Hameed produced a throwback innings to match that produced by his captain and opening partner, Alastair Cook, as England launched what already counts as a heroic rearguard, irrespective of what may come to pass on the fifth and final day at Visakhapatnam.
By the close of a gripping but slow-burning day of inaction, England had ground their way to 87 for 2 in 59.2 overs, showing no interest whatsoever in India’s insurmountable target of 405, but focused solely on the task of ticking off each of the five sessions that India had left them, after being bowled out for 204 at the end of an elongated morning.
For exactly 50 of those overs, Cook and Hameed resisted everything that India could fling their way, but after Hameed had been pinned on the toe by an unplayable grubber to end a stoic opening stand, Cook was sent on his way lbw for 54 by what became the very last ball of the day – a devastating blow that England, for all their undoubted spirit, will struggle to bounce back from.
More to follow
England 255 (Stokes 70, Bairstow 53, Root 53, Ashwin 5-67) and 40 for 0 (Cook 28*, Hameed 12*) need another 365 runs to beat India 455 and 204 (Kohli 81, Broad 4-33, Rashid 4-82) Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
So far, so steady for Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed, as England’s unlikely bid for survival in the second Test was given a confident start on the fourth afternoon at Visakhapatnam. By tea, the openers had nibbled 40 runs out of an imposing and improbable victory target of 405, but more importantly, they had soaked up 28 overs without being parted to keep India waiting to reassert their authority.
If there is a template for England’s approach in the remaining four sessions of this contest then, on the evidence of the team’s two most stoic crease-occupiers, it is the one laid out by South Africa at Delhi on their own tour of …
