India Vs England 1st Test: At Lunch, India Struggling To Save The Match As Six Wickets Down On Day 5,

Onus lies on Virat Kohli if India have any chance to salvage a draw from the first Chennai Test. In a surprising turn of events, India lose five wickets in the first session on Day 5. India’s score toiling at 144/6

(File Photo/ Getty Images)

In what looked like a nicely set-up chasing day for India early on in the morning has changed in to a desperate attempt to save the match in Chennai. India look at their weakest with the score at 144/6. All the Indian batsmen fell like a pack of cards. Once Gill was back in the hut after scoring a half-century, it was just a down-hill road for India’s batsmen. Pujara went for 15, Rahane for 0, Pant for 11 and hero of first innings, Washington Sundar also got out for a duck. So, all the batsmen who were expected to do the scoring are out before lunch.

After Lunch, Kohli will come on to bat along with Ravichandran Ashwin who will have to stick around for at least another complete session if India has any hope of drawing the Test match. On the positive side, Virat Kohli has scored 45 of 51 balls and is looking confident to play his shots and score runs. He also scored three consecutive boundaries against Bess. But India’s game-plans must have changed drastically after the loss of wickets in a bulk.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">5️⃣ Overs<br>3️⃣ Maidens<br>6️⃣ Runs<br>3️⃣ Wickets<br><br>One of the great spells <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmy9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@jimmy9</a> 🐐<br><br>Scorecard: <a href="https://t.co/dE3BqcSAE5" rel='nofollow'>https://t.co/dE3BqcSAE5</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/INDvENG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#INDvENG</a> <a href="https://t.co/UBFOYQKG1m" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/UBFOYQKG1m</a></p>&mdash; England Cricket (@englandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1359020324231077888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>February 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A drawn match would give immense satisfaction to Ravi Shastri and his men. The way things stand, it looks a difficult Day ahead for Virat Kohli.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lunch in Chennai 🍲<br><br>England have dominated the first session, taking five important wickets.<br><br>India are still 276 runs away!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/INDvENG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#INDvENG</a> ➡️ <a href="https://t.co/gnj5x4GOos" rel='nofollow'>https://t.co/gnj5x4GOos</a> <a href="https://t.co/n6jCqQk231" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/n6jCqQk231</a></p>&mdash; ICC (@ICC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1359020741442695168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>February 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Scores in brief:

England 1^st Innings – 578/10

India 1^st Innings – 337/10

England lead by 241 runs in the second innings.

England 2^nd Innings – 178/10, set a target of 420 for India to chase.

India 2^nd Innings – 144/6,  (Virat Kohli 45*, Gill 50) at Lunch, Day 5