England race toward lead as Pant's heroics overshadowed by Duckett, Crawley

India were pushed to the backseat on Day 2 of the fourth Test in Manchester on Thursday, as England closed in on the visitors' first-innings total, reducing their gap to just 133 runs, helped by a superb 166-run opening partnership between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.

Riding on that strong start, England ended the day at 225/2 and are well poised to take the lead unless India produces a miracle in the early sessions of Day 3. Ollie Pope and Joe Root are on the crease for the visitors, both batting at 20 and 11 respectively. 

Earlier, a brilliant half-century from the injured Rishabh Pant helped India post 358 in their first innings. Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja made useful contributions at one end, scoring 41 runs and 20 runs respectively. 

However, the English skipper Ben Stokes tore through India's tail, claiming the wickets of Thakur, debutant Anshul Kamboj, Washington Sundar, and Jasprit Bumrah- finishing with a five-wicket haul, his first in eight years.

Crawley and Duckett scored briskly before tea, quickly chipping away at India's total as England's reply began. However, neither could convert their impressive starts into centuries, with Crawley falling for 84 and Duckett for 94 in the evening session.

Joe Root and Ollie Pope then weathered several close calls to take England safely to stumps, keeping the hosts firmly in contention to seal the five-match series with one Test to spare.