England v India: Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed set up thrilling final day - BBC Sport
England make a promising start to their pursuit of a record 368 to leave the fourth Test against India primed for a thrilling conclusion at The Kia Oval.
Fourth LV= Insurance Test, The Kia Oval (day four of five) England need 291 more runs to win

England made a promising start to their pursuit of a record 368, to leave the fourth Test against India primed for a thrilling conclusion at The Kia Oval.

Faced with what would be England's highest successful chase in Test cricket, Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns took the home side to 77-0 at the close on day four.

When England took three wickets for 16 runs in the morning session, including India captain Virat Kohli for 44, Joe Root's side had the opportunity to minimise their target.

However, Shardul Thakur batted patiently for 60 and Rishabh Pant was similarly careful in his 50 as they shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 100.

On a placid pitch, the tourists were eventually bowled out for 466 in their second innings.

History is against England - only nine times in the history of the game have more runs been chased by any side to win a Test.

Yet, all four results will be possible on Monday morning, as a wonderful series that is level at 1-1 continues to deliver.

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• None Highlights and reaction from day four at The Oval

This Test has confounded expectations at every turn and another fluctuating day in perfect late-summer sunshine has set up a grandstand finale.

Realistically, India remain favourites, with England's next-best hope being the draw. However, optimism inside the The Oval was raised by the way Hameed and Burns played on a pitch that only seems to be getting better for batting.

England also have the inspiration of Ben Stokes' Headingley heroics fresh in the memory.

For context, their target in 2019 was 359, which they reached in 125.4 overs. Here they need more runs in what is likely to be fewer overs.

India, and particularly captain Kohli, will be under pressure to close out the win, especially after again omitting masterful off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

The Oval is sold out for the final day. The match is deliciously poised. It could turn out to be a classic.

From 270-3 overnight, India's most likely hope of batting England out of the game seemed to be Kohli.

However, when he edged Moeen to slip soon after both Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane had been pinned lbw by Chris Woakes, the tourists were 213 ahead with only four wickets in hand.

Pant's cavalier attitude had brought little prior success in this series, while Thakur hit the fastest ever Test half-century in this country in the first innings, yet they both curbed their natural instincts to calmly stretch India's advantage.

Pant did not hit his first boundary until the 54th ball he faced. Only when Moeen wasted a run-out chance with both men in the middle of the pitch when Pant was on 37 did India opt to attack.

Thakur hit Ollie Robinson over long-on for six and reached 50 for the second time before he edged Root's off-spin to slip.

Pant's 105-ball half-century was his slowest in Tests and he was furious with himself when he drove a return catch back to Moeen.

Infuriatingly for England, Umesh Yadav swung his way to 25 and Jasprit Bumrah again frustrated them with 24 to prolong the toil and increase the target.

England doing it the hard way

If England do pull off an incredible win, or even survive to claim a draw, they will have done so after the best part of two days toiling in the field.

They lacked inspiration in the early part of Sunday morning, only to be inspired by the introduction of Woakes who struck twice in as many overs.

Time and again, Woakes, Robinson and James Anderson were summoned. The work Anderson and Robinson have done must raise questions over their fitness for the fifth Test, while Anderson has taken only two second-innings wickets in six Tests his summer. Craig Overton was often overlooked.

Off-spinner Moeen conceded more than 4.5 runs an over and his failure to run-out Pant - he had time to either throw to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow or even run to the stumps himself, only to miss with an attempted direct hit - goes alongside the six catches England have missed in this match.

After so long in the field, the home top order was vulnerable to the new ball, yet Hameed and Burns played with certainty, positivity and sound judgement.

Burns pulled with authority in moving to 31 not out, while Hameed flicked off his pads on the way to 43, the latter surviving a tense review for lbw off Mohammed Siraj in the penultimate over of the day.

'England have given themselves a glimmer' - reaction

Former England captain Michael Vaughan: "England will talk about chasing it but if you said now, do you want the draw, I think they would take it. I am leaning towards draw, then India, then England. England have given themselves a glimmer."

England all-rounder Chris Woakes, speaking to TMS: "There is enough time in the game to get the runs. After that session [the evening session] we feel more pleased than at the start of our innings. We know it is a good pitch."