England Struggle in Chase of 319

London: Defending 319, the visitors reduced England to 105 for 4 at the close of play on day four with Joe Root (14) and Moeen Ali (15) at the crease.

Ravindra Jadeja trapped Sam Robson lbw for 7 to deal the first blow and Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma then inflicted further injuries to England's chase. Shami got rid of Gary Ballance while Sharma accounted for Ian Bell and Alastair Cook to put their team on the way to its first win at the historic ground in 28 years.

Cook and Ballance added 58 for the second wicket to breath plenty of life into England's chase but Shami and Sharma's wickets towards the end turn the tide absolutely in India's favour. Shami had Ballance caught behind for 21, while Sharma cleaned up Bell for 1 with a ball that moved in and seamed away, following up with the wicket of Cook who edged one straight through to MS Dhoni behind the wickets.

Earlier in the day, Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar made fifties to help the tourists set England a challenging target. India were in a spot of bother at 235 for 7 at one time but Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar played with contrasting styles, adding 99 runs to bring the team back in the driver's seat. While Bhuvneshwar was occupied with playing defensive shots, Jadeja looked to score from the start. He dominated the partnerhsip with his maiden fifty and was especially agressive against James Anderson with whom he had a nasty row in the first game at Trent Bridge.

Jadeja (68) eventually fell to Ben Stokes attempting a pull shot but instead got a top edge and Cook from the slips ran backwards to take a nice catch. Shami (0) and Bhuvneshwar (52) fell in quick time but by that time the tourists were in a very good position. Bhuvneshwar scored his third fifty in this series, with a lofted stroke over bowler Stokes' head. In his next over, Stokes avenged himself on the Indian allrounder. Stokes and Liam Plunkett took three wickets each.

England removed Dhoni, Stuart Binny and Murali Vijay in quick succession to reduce India to 267 for 7 at lunch . India resumed the day on 169 for 4 with Vijay and Dhoni and both batted impressively to take the team past 200. However, against the run of play, Dhoni, on 19, edged Plunkett to Bell at second slip, bringing an end to a 79-run stand. The Indian captain played uncharacteristically, scoffing 86 balls.

Binny played a horrible shot to give his wicket away when in the next over he tried to hit Ali out of the park but miscued it and Cook at mid-off ran backwards to complete a good catch. Binny made 0. Vijay looked set to join the illustrious to have scored a ton at the hallowed ground when Anderson had him caught behind five runs short of a century.

Brief scores
India - 295 (Rahane 103, Anderson 4-60) and 372 (Vijay 95, Jadeja 67, Kumar 52)
England - 319 (Ballance 110, Plunkett 55*, Kumar 6-82) and 105/4
Status - England need 214 runs to win