There was only one way this match could ever liven up on the day four – if India collapsed in the morning session. After losing two late wickets on day three, India had left the door ajar, giving England a chance to put their foot in if they managed to take a couple more the following morning. However, with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane taking guard on Saturday morning, only a spectacular collapse would give England a chance to change the result of this match from the draw it is headed to.

Kohli and Rahane tried their best to make it a contest, gifting their wickets in the first hour of day four in the most unlikely of fashions. Rahane was the first to go – trying to play the most un-Rahane shot there is: Zafar Ansari, bowling around the wicket, had pitched the ball in line and it went straight for the sticks. Rahane shaped himself for the cut, before realising it isn’t spinning much and then tried to swipe it to the leg-side. He got his hands into an awful jumble and was hit plumb in front in the process.

If Rahane was gone leg-before-wicket, Kohli went one step ahead and trod his leg onto the wicket while going for a pull off Adil Rashid. The Indian captain has a habit of batting too deep into his crease and stepping dangerously close to the stumps while executing the pull, and it came to bite him this time.

And just like that, India were down to 361/6, still trailing by 176 runs and now within a real chance of being dismissed sub-400, which would give England a very handy lead and the chance to go for a win. Luckily for the hosts, Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha were not so generous like their teammates above them in the line-up. The two did not park the bus, but played smartly and with a lot of assurance. Their 50-partnership was brought up moments before the lunch break, as they helped plug the leaks that England had caused in the middle-order.

The frustration was clear in the England team as Ben Stokes had some unnecessary words for Ashwin in the last over before lunch. The visitors are going to need more than just words to eke out a win from here.

Brief score:

England 537 (Ben Stokes 128, Joe Root 124, Moeen Ali 117; Ravindra Jadeja 3/86, Mohammed Shami 2/65, R Ashwin 2/167) lead India 411/6 (Murali Vijay 126, Cheteshwar Pujara 124; Ben Stokes 1/39, Adil Rashid 1/47) by 126 runs.