India eye victory at Lord's after removing Root and Smith

LONDON :India picked up the key wickets of Joe Root and Jamie Smith as England inched cautiously to 175-6 at tea on the fourth day of the third test at Lord's on Sunday.

Root and Ben Stokes had led an England recovery with a patient partnership of 67 but the former, on 40, was bowled behind his legs by Washington Sundar.

The spinner also bowled Smith, for eight, to put India in a strong position to win the match and go 2-1 up in the series with four sessions remaining and England only 175 runs ahead.

Stokes remained unbeaten on 27 at the interval with Chris Woakes on eight.

India dominated the morning session on another sunny day at the home of cricket.

With the wicket offering more assistance to the bowlers and variable bounce, England tried to bat positively but Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook all fell cheaply.

Duckett played an audacious ramp shot to the boundary but two balls later he attempted to pull Mohammed Siraj through the leg side and was easily caught by Jasprit Bumrah at mid-on to depart for 12.

Siraj roared at Duckett as he walked back to the pavilion as the tension between the teams that flared up late on Saturday continued to simmer.

Pope never looked comfortable and was trapped lbw by Siraj for four after India successfully reviewed the umpire's initial decision of not out.

Crawley, on 22, played a loose drive at Nitish Kumar Reddy and the ball flew straight to gully where Yashasvi Jaiswal took a simple catch to put England in trouble at 50-3.

Brook ramped Akash Deep for consecutive fours before driving the fast bowler over long-off for six, but the bowler took his revenge when he bowled the right-hander for 23 as he attempted a rash sweep to a straight full-pitched delivery.

Root, who scored