Thriller looms as England chase remarkable win

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England was daring to imagination of a record-breaking tally pursuit aft India's defiant little bid near the hosts hunting 368 to triumph the fourth Test with 1 time left.

Joe Root's side needs its biggest-ever 4th innings occurrence to assertion triumph connected time 5 astatine the Oval. After watching the tourists heap up 466 each retired successful its 2nd innings connected an progressively docile transportation connected Sunday, that nary longer looks arsenic outlandish arsenic it should.

Openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed gave England the cleanable basal to physique from, sharing a chanceless basal of 77 earlier stumps to permission different 291 to get with each 10 wickets successful hand.

All results stay imaginable but by acold the astir singular would beryllium an England broadside someway uncovering a mode to people six much than than their erstwhile grounds pursuit — Ben Stokes' 'Miracle of Headingley' successful the 2019 Ashes.

England would person been looking astatine a overmuch nicer full to pursuit were it not for a defiant seventh-wicket basal of 100 betwixt Rishabh Pant (50) and Shardul Thakur (60), followed by further harm from the tail.

By the clip England yet wrapped things up, it had spent much than 148 overs and 11 hours labouring successful the tract with their onslaught each but spent.

Against that backdrop, the quality of Burns (31 not out) and Hameed (43 not out) to knuckle down for different 32 overs was each the much noteworthy.

Earlier, England's hopes of triumph successful the Test had switched to thoughts of holding retired for a gully aft India reached 8-445 astatine beverage for an imposing second-innings pb of 346.

India's preparations for the day's play were disrupted erstwhile it emerged that India caput manager Ravi Shastri was isolating on with 3 different members of their backroom squad aft investigating affirmative for COVID-19.

Shastri returned a affirmative lateral travel trial connected Saturday evening and has not travelled to the crushed arsenic helium awaited the results of a PCR test, alongside bowling manager Bharat Arun, fielding manager Ramakrishnan Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel.

The remainder of the squad were cleared to study for work aft 2 abstracted lateral travel tests, 1 connected Saturday nighttime and 1 connected Sunday morning.

A connection from the Board of Control for Cricket successful India said each 4 "shall stay successful the squad edifice and not travel" until the results of the PCR trial are known.

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