India vs England Second Test Day 4: 5 talking points

If anybody thought India had run away with the game, they were made to rethink by a superb effort from the Englishmen, who owned Day 4 of the second Test at Vizag, despite being well behind in the game. Chasing an improbable 405 for victory or playing out more than 150 overs for a draw, England brought out the South African spirit in them as the openers blocked their way to frustrate India.

Earlier in the day, Broad and Rashid ensured India did not have the freedom to declare the innings. It took some late order hitting from Umesh and Shami to set England a 400+ target. Broad and Rashid shared four wickets apiece as India were bowled out for 204.

While England are still way behind in the game and negotiating the three Indian spinners on a crumbling wicket seems a hard task, they have shown the right spirit thus far forcing everyone to appreciate their resilience. They still need to survive at least 90 overs and do not have their captain to help them through. But he and his young opening partner has shown the way for the middle order.

Let us take a glance at the five talking points from Day 4 of the Second Test of the series between India and England at Visakhapatnam.

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#5 Stokes ends Kohli's stay at the crease

A sensational catch by Ben Stokes in the slips underlined the Day's play at Visakhapatnam. Kohli was on his way to another brilliant hundred to back up a hundred in his first innings.

Adil Rashid bowled an innocuous delivery that turned away from Kohli, who went with hard hands at the sharp turner. The ball flew to the right of Stokes at first slip who flung horizontal, parallel to the ground to grab a one-handed stunner.

Kohli has had a great 2016, converting all of his half-centuries to centuries till today this year. It required something outstanding effort to end his outrageous run and Stokes produced that in the field.

#4 Rashid finally comes to the party

Rashid finally came to the party in a great session for England

Before the tour of the sub-continent, Adil Rashid was picked as the spearhead among the three spinners, including Moeen, Ansari and himself. The tour of Bangladesh was a poor one for England and even worse one for Rashid.

Moeen Ali seemed to have taken over the crew of spinners, first in Bangladesh, with a brilliant fifer and then looked the best of England's spinners in the first Test at Rajkot. Rashid was loose and short and never looked threatening.

However, in Vizag, in the second innings, Rashid finally came to the party in a great session for England. He stuck to tight lines and gave the ball more revolutions, finding the right amount of turn and flight to trouble Indian batsmen. He finished with four wickets in the innings.

#3 Broad's morning

Bowling tight lines and moving the ball just about right, Broad tormented Rahane

If yesterday, England seamers showed they are capable of creating something out of nothing in the pitch, today Broad took it to another level with an incisive spell of fast bowling.

Bowling tight lines and moving the ball just about right, Broad tormented Rahane, who has been uncharacteristically out of form this series. The pressure finally gave way as Rahane edged Broad through to Cook.

He wasn't done yet though, as he made Ashwin play a wide of the stumps delivery, that he edged through to the keeper. He finished the innings with figures of 4-33.

#2 England openers show the way

Cook and Hameed hardly looked to score, negotiating any turn with stoic defence and utmost concentration

If India thought they had enough runs and enough time to bowl out England, they were in for a patience test as Haseeb Hameed and Alastair Cook displayed amazing temperament to keep the Indian spinners at bay.

The Proteas had shown in Delhi a year back that when presented with a huge total to win in the fourth innings, the best way out was to block and block and only look at the total once the opposition were tired to the core. They couldn't quite do it at Delhi, but England seem to have taken a leaf out of their admirable efforts.

Cook and Hameed hardly looked to score, negotiating any turn with stoic defence and utmost concentration. Hameed has proved to be a masterstroke selection on these sub-continental wickets as he negotiated the spinners wisely. The 75 run partnership took 50 overs but showed that England are prepared to fight it out.

#1 Two wickets to low bounce

It took two deliveries that kept low for India to break England's resilience

India finally managed to break through the defence of Hameed, albeit with a delivery that kept pretty low. Ashwin's delivery hardly bounced after pitching, almost rolling along the ground to strike a crouching Hameed on his pads.

A brilliant 145 ball vigil from the young opener had ended in an unlucky manner but did not take the sheen off his effort. Cook was next as Jadeja managed to find the right spot for the ball to not bounce much. The delivery rapped Cook on the pads and even a review could not save him.

Cook had played out 188 balls for 54 and along with Hameed showed the way to bat on this pitch for the other batsmen coming after them. It took two deliveries that kept low for India to break England's resilience.