London, Sep 2 (IANS) Indian batsmen floundered once again but the wicket of Joe Root, who was bowled by Umesh Yadav for 21, kept them alive in the fourth Test of the ongoing series. England went to stumps at 53/3 in response to India's 191 in the first innings. They trail by 138 runs and have seven wickets in hand.

India, thanks to half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Shardul Thakur managed to get close to 200. At 127/7, it seemed that England would dismiss India for below 150. However, Thakur, the medium-pace bowling all-rounder played audacious shots to chip in with 57 off 36 balls to give the total some modesty.

India lost three wickets in each of the first two sessions. Though they lost four wickets in the last session, they managed to eke out three wickets.
Chris Woakes was the wercker-in-chief for England, picking four wickets.

Brief scores (at stumps, Day 1): India 191 ( Shardul Thakur 57, Virat Kohli 50, Chris Woakes 4/55, Ollie Robinson 3/38) vs England 55/3 (Jasprit Bumrah 2/15).

--IANS kh/