India's grit outlasts England's endurance to keep series alive

One of the least appreciated aspects of cricket in narratives is the sheer physicality of it. There were times during the Old Trafford Test when we sat and wondered what the narrative would have been had this been a three-match series. It would have offered India an honourable series defeat that they could have won with a little bit of luck or with a little bit of ruthlessness.

Instead, it felt like the fourth Test was exposing them physically. Their strike bowlers were down on pace and looking toothless, their injury replacement was not serviceable for whatever reason (which they should investigate and prevent a repeat of), and they looked like they were losing to a side that had a bit of luck in the early part of the series which was now displaying superior conditioning, not by much but enough to outlast them.

India's batters had one final chance to flip that narrative on its head. To show two can play the game. That even though Ben Stokes believes pain is just an emotion, they can make some of his team-mates feel the physical pain of a long Test series that has been going into the final session of the final day on flat pitches.

It was just that India had lost two wickets in the first over. That can happen. Especially in a short period before a break when batters appear to be facing a lose-lose situation. They still had five sessions to go with two wickets gone and their best batter of the last five years down with a broken foot.

India had an ally in a dying pitch - otherwise you can't hope to bat five sessions for a draw against modern Test attacks - but this was as much a test of their temperament and their physicality. Batting out draws is a task modern batters have to rarely face. Unless the deficit is small - 311 wasn't - you can get there only one ball at a time. There is no counterattacking, there is no rushing. Time moves at its own objective pace. It can feel excruciatingly slow, especially when you are not in the middle.

Out in the middle, India needed only four batters to negotiate 875 balls between them.

Why KL Rahul had a middling batting average had been an enigma coming into the series. He had never scored 400 runs in a series nor scored more than one hundred. A lot of his good work in the rest of his Test career had happened in the first quarter of series. Here, he had scored a second century in a series for the first time, but even that resulted in a turning point for a Test India lost at Lord's.

Rahul and Rishabh Pant, his partner at the time, wanted to get the milestone out of the way if they could before lunch. Pant ended up getting run-out. It was a human reaction. Rahul was honest enough to admit that that happened. And good enough to regroup a week later and go back to doing what had brought him close to that second hundred.

Except that runs didn't matter here. So engrossed was he in just defending, switching off and switching on that he was not even awake to a misfield late on the fourth evening. The milestone didn't matter in this innings. The greatest achievement for Rahul was that he forced the opposition captain to risk an injured bicep and then come up with an absolutely unplayable ball to get him out. Not before he had faced 230 balls.

Rahul's partner on the fourth evening, Shubman Gill, is in the form of his life but under the pump as a captain. There have been questions if this is his team. Whether it was him who wanted Shardul Thakur and not Kuldeep Yadav in the XI, and if so, why did he not bowl Thakur enough? Why are India 2-1, and going towards 3-1, after looking like the better team for long periods of this series? He also had to face the hat-trick ball with India needing to bat out five whole sessions.

His bat doesn't ask Gill these questions. That's the one thing he is in control of. Not the injuries, not the weather that keeps turning against him, not the toss. He faced 238 balls with calmness and composure that have been the hallmark of his batting. This was his slowest Test hundred. Only once has he left more balls alone in an innings. He needed to quickly put behind the one he left alone and was out lbw.

Batters generally tend to not tempt cricketing gods. They take the runs that are available unless batting with the tail or with an injured batter. Gill was not afraid of doing that when he decided to face all the left-arm spin - in the first session of the day - when Liam Dawson was firing it in the rough for Washington Sundar.

Washington, who had to be promoted to cover for the injury to Pant. Washington, who is so good a player that the team management is moving mountains to fit him in the XI. He has bowled balls and hit shots that will fit in the highlight reels of the series, but this innings was about anything but highlights.

For more than two sessions, he and Ravindra Jadeja needed to negotiate everything thrown at them. India's No. 1 allrounder and his heir apparent. Jadeja became only the third visiting player to score over 1000 runs and take more than 30 wickets in a single country. Washington finally got his maiden Test century after having been stranded on 96 and 85 before. They batted together for 55.2 overs, keeping out shooters and kickers. By the end of it, England were so knackered they wanted to get off the field with 15 overs left.

The physicality was now catching up with England. India now have a full set of fit fast bowlers to choose from. The luck finally turned for them with three dropped catches that proved pivotal. They now have a chance to walk away with 2-2, which, at this point, seems like a fair result. It's a good thing this was not a three-Test series.