London, Aug 3 (IANS) Bad light and subsequent rain forced an early end to play on Day Four of the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval on Sunday. With the stage set for a thrilling day five, England need 35 more runs to win, while India requires four wickets for a miraculous victory.

Rain forcing the match to go into the fifth day means every Test of the ongoing riveting five-match series has now gone into the last day. England looked all set to complete the chase of 374 on day four, thanks to Joe Root hitting his 39th Test century off 137 balls, and paid a fitting tribute to Graham Thorpe.

While Root eventually made 105 off 152 balls, Harry Brook hit a stunning 111 off 98 balls – his tenth hundred in the longer format and was given a reprieve on 19 by Mohammed Siraj. Just when it felt that victory was inevitable for England, Root and Jacob Bethell fell to Prasidh Krishna as overcast conditions meant India found seam movement and made life difficult for Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton – unbeaten on two and zero respectively.

Before India could bring more twists to the game, the rain gods intervened and brought a premature end to the day’s play. With Chris Woakes, with his left arm in a sling, pacing up and down in the dressing room in his Test whites, another fascinating day five finish looms large to decide the scoreline of this closely-fought Test series.

The final session began with a slight delay due to rain. But once it went away, Root brought up his 39th Test century off 137 balls. From the other end, Jacob Bethell struggled for fluency despite advancing to drive Akash Deep past cover for four, and his stay ended when he went for a big heave, but bottom-edged to his stumps off Prasidh Krishna.

Suddenly, things began to grow tighter as Prasidh had Jamie Smith inside-edging to his pads, before beating him on the outside edge. From the other end, Siraj hit Smith and Root on pads with his nip-backers, before India burnt a review when Prasidh hit Root on pads.

But India found some hope as Prasidh struck again by having Root edge behind to Dhruv Jurel, who dived to his right to take a good low catch and dismiss the batter for 105. With Smith and Jamie Overton struggling to find gaps, India were well on top before bad light and then heavy rain forced players to go off the field and push the series decider to day five.

Brief scores:

India 224 and 396 lead England 247 and 339/6 in 76.2 overs (Harry Brook 111, Joe Root 105; Prasidh Krishna 3-109, Mohammed Siraj 2-95) by 35 runs

–IANS

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