The China Mail - India's Krishna and Siraj rock England in series finale

England were 129-1 in reply to India's 224 all out as they threatened to build a substantial first-innings lead.

But they were eventually dismissed for 247, just 23 runs ahead, following a rain delay.

In a match India must win to end the series level at 2-2, the recalled Krishna had figures of 4-62 in 16 overs and fellow paceman Siraj 4-86 in 16.2.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett shared a blistering first-wicket stand of 92 in just 13 overs after England paceman Gus Atkinson marked his return to Test cricket with a five-wicket haul.

Both openers fell either side of lunch, however, before stand-in England captain Ollie Pope, leading the side in place of the injured Ben Stokes, was lbw to Siraj for 22.

Crawley and Duckett dominated India's attack with a blizzard of boundaries before Akash Deep sparked the latest flare-up of a fractious series.

Deep had Duckett caught behind for 43 off an attempted scoop, then put his arm round the unimpressed batsman's shoulder and appeared to say a few words as he walked off.

India's KL Rahul pulled Deep away from Duckett before the bowler could say anything else.

This incident came after India captain Shubman Gill accused England of ignoring the "spirit of cricket" by time-wasting in the third Test at Lord's.

England were then angered by the India's decision to bat on in the fourth Test at Old Trafford rather than agree a draw as soon as possible.

- Siraj stars -

Ater Duckett's exit, Crawley holed out off a miscued pull against Krishna for 64, with 56 of those runs coming in boundaries.

The usually mild-mannered Joe Root, second in the all-time list of Test match run scorers, found himself exchanging words with Krishna before he was lbw to Siraj for 29.

And when Siraj had Jacob Bethell lbw as the all-rounder played down the wrong line, England were 195-5.

Jamie Smith then saw his edged drive off Krishna well caught by Rahul at second slip.

Four balls later Jamie Overton was lbw to Krishna for a duck.

Atkinson hit two well-struck boundaries before he mistimed a pull of Krishna to mid-on.

Harry Brook gave England fans something to cheer with an extraordinary 'falling' sweep for six off Siraj during a 57-ball fifty.

But Siraj bowled him for 53, with Brook the last man out as the injured Chris Woakes was unable to bat.

England suffered a setback before Friday's play, with paceman Woakes effectively ruled out of the rest of the match after suffering a shoulder injury when diving in an attempt to prevent a boundary on Thursday.

But Atkinson responded with a superb return of 5-33 in 21.4 overs after striking twice on Thursday, when he also ran out the in-form Gill.

The 27-year-old's fourth five-wicket haul in just 13 Tests was all the more creditable as this was Atkinson's first senior match since being sidelined with hamstring trouble following a one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May.

India, who resumed on 204-6, lost their last four wickets for just 20 more runs in 5.4 overs on Friday.

L.Kwan--ThChM