Rahul stroked a composed half-century before Pant’s chaotic cameo took India’s lead to 357 by lunch

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2025Lunch
Rishabh Pant’s chaotic cameo helped India stretch their lead to 357 on the fourth morning at Edgbaston, after KL Rahul’s calm half-century laid the foundations for him. Dropped on 10 by Zak Crawley, Pant threw the bat – quite literally, collecting it from square leg after losing grip – to reach 41 not out off 35 balls at the lunch interval.Rahul, resuming on 28, ticked over under gloomy skies, with the floodlights on throughout the first session. Brydon Carse caused him some problems, but was all over Karun Nair: he hit him on the grille with a lifter, had him edging into the gap between first and second slip, and finally had him caught behind on the drive for 26.Rahul progressed serenely to his half-century but was cleaned up by Josh Tongue, who was rewarded for sticking to his full length despite being driven for boundaries. Angling the ball in from wide on the crease, Tongue found some late movement away off the seam to beat Rahul’s outside edge, and remove his middle stump.Pant made his intentions clear by charging his fourth ball and slapping it back over Tongue’s head for six, and was reprieved when Crawley put a straightforward chance down at mid-off off Ben Stokes. He responded by slog-sweeping Tongue for another six, and hauled Shoaib Bashir for three boundaries in as many overs.Shubman Gill batted with more composure at the other end, and faces a decision later in the day around how many runs India should look to set England. It was three years ago today that England completed their record run chase – against the same opponents, at the same venue – but they will likely need far more than 378 to take a two-nil series lead.