Lord’s Test: Can India chase 193? A look at what history suggest

India and England are engaged in the third Test at Lord's (BCCI Photo)

On Day 4 of the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, India bowled England out for 192, giving themselves a great chance to achieve a historic victory at Lord's. Off-spinner Washington Sundar picked four wickets to complement the efforts of pace bowlers, which destroyed England.

Both sides had scored 387 runs in the first innings, thus England were expected to set a tough target. But in the morning session, they lost four wickets, leaving Ben Stokes and Joe Root with a mountain to climb.

Stokes, Root, Jamie Smith, and Shoaib Bashir were among the four crucial wickets that Sundar took, making him India's surprise package. Despite being quiet at first, Jasprit Bumrah took two crucial lower-order wickets by clean bowling Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse. Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were removed in the first session by Mohammed Siraj, who set the tone with a fierce opening spell.

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In addition to giving up 32 extras, the third-highest contribution to England's innings after Root's 40 and Stokes's 33, there were a number of controversial LBW calls that went against India in the second innings.

On paper, a target of 193 seemed achievable, but India got an early setback when Yashasvi Jaiswal attempted a reckless pull shot against a Jofra Archer bouncer. By the time play was over India had managed to put 58 on the board but for the loss of four wickets. The visitors require 135 runs, with England need six wickets, making Day 5 a gripping affair.

A target of 190 or more has only been successfully pursued six times in Test history at Lord's. Interestingly, two of those cases have happened within the past three years. On a field that had flattened down as the game went on, South Africa won their first World Test Championship final last month, chasing 282 in the fourth innings against Australia.

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Prior to this Test, the best successful chase by India at Lord's was 136 for 5. In that game, India defeated a David Gower-led England team. After being reduced to 78 for 4, Ravi Shastri (20 off 44) and Mohammad Azharuddin steadied the innings before Kapil Dev put the finishing touches on it with a scorching 23 off 10 balls.

But over the past two days, the pitch in this third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has become more erratic. As the game progressed, the batting conditions have only gotten worse with bowlers greatly benefitting from uneven bounce and the developing rough areas.