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India vs England: International cricket, 4th Test – Day 4 live scores

11th December, 2016
First ball: 3pm (AEDT)
Venue: Wankhede Stadium
TV: Live, Fox Sports (Aus), Sky Sports (UK)
Overall Record: Played 115, England 43, India 23, Drawn 49

India (squad)
Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Cheteshwar Pujara, Lokesh Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav

England (squad)
Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Zafar Ansari, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Duckett, Steven Finn, Haseeb Hameed, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes
Virat Kohli managed a ton against England but couldn't save the match. (AFP PHOTO / MARTY MELVILLE)
Expert
11th December, 2016
69
1475 Reads

India are slowly forcing themselves ahead in the fourth Test against England to take an unassailable lead in their five-match series, but on a deteriorating pitch all results are still possibilities in Mumbai. Join The Roar for live scores of Day 4 from 3pm (AEDT).

Given the state of the series where even a draw ensures England can’t come back to tie it at 2-2 in Chennai, the tourists are going to need to take a few risks to come from behind and win this match.

England winning the toss for this match in Mumbai, on a pitch that played quite well on the first day but has become spin-friendly in a hurry looked like their biggest asset.

But for the second straight match they squandered the opportunity.

Four hundred is nothing to be laughed at but was still below par for an English side who now find themselves behind on the first innings after three days thanks to the brilliance of Virat Kohli.

Only debutant Keaton Jennings could go past the century mark for England, with others making starts but not going on with it, which against India is simply not good enough.

Given all ten wickets were taken between Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and that the pair looked progressively dangerous as the innings went on, there is no doubting exactly how many wickets could fall over the next two days.

With England’s spinners struggling to take wickets in reply, India have danced away to a 50 run lead with three wickets in hand thanks to Kohli who has led the way 147 not out and Murali Vijay who scored 136.

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While most others haven’t gotten going, they haven’t needed to and India find themselves in a dominating position.

Day 4 Prediction
The way the match is currently set up, it’s difficult to give a timescale on exactly when it might come to an end, but it could be today despite plenty of action still needing to happen.

England could well collapse in their second innings and leave India a very small or no target at all to chase down in their second innings – supposedly the most difficult of the match.

It’s not hard to see why India don’t want a score to chase either given the current state of the pitch.

India seems to be in the stronger position and at home, it’s hard to see them not knocking over England cheaply. While the match shouldn’t end today, it’s certainly a possibility.

When England do get back to the crease, it’s going to be about batting for time and building an innings, but unlike the first innings actually going on with it.

Trying to defend for long periods and see spinners off simply won’t work – Ravichandran Ashwin would have a field day.

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India should be on the verge of victory by the end of today though.

Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the fourth day’s play in Mumbai from 3pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to get involved in the action by dropping a comment below.

Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde

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