Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan were dismissed within the first five deliveries of India's second innings in Manchester.

India’s nightmare in Manchester deepened on Saturday as they crumbled to 0/2 in the span of five deliveries, shortly after England surged to a daunting 669. With a 311-run first-innings deficit already looming, India were thrust into an awkward pre-lunch passage, and unravelled almost instantly. Yashasvi Jaiswal, the in-form batter at the top, was undone by a Chris Woakes delivery that straightened just enough to induce an edge, with Joe Root juggling and then holding on at slip.

On the very next ball, Sai Sudharsan, playing just his second Test, misjudged a harmless delivery and offered a soft edge to Harry Brook at second slip. While Shubman Gill survived the hat-trick delivery, India have already been pushed to the brink as they stare at a heavy defeat at Old Trafford.

England’s fast bowlers, Woakes and Jofra Archer, continued to extract bounce and movement from the same surface that looked lifeless during parts of India’s bowling effort. The contrast couldn’t have been starker: where England’s seamers looked incisive and purposeful, India’s had appeared toothless across Day 3.

Stuart Broad, the former English bowling great, however, offered a different perspective on India's poor start with the bat. Broad seemed to sympathise with the Indian batters, who came to bat minutes after fielding for 158 overs, and stated that mental and physical tiredness played a role in the duo's early departure.

“Fresh legs, fresh bowlers. If you give your bowlers two nights' sleep in a Test match, they will come out and make the ball talk. It's an interesting one, Jaiswal, second ball, tried to cut one and missed, and he immediately shook his legs. You know what you do when you've got lactic acid in your legs, you've got to shake them out and get some feeling. That to me showed that mentally and physically, he was tired, and he was trying to switch himself on,” Broad told JioHotstar during the Lunch break on Day 4.

“Sudharsan… it was complete mental and physical tiredness, which, in your second Test match, when you have fielded for over 160 overs, is completely understandable.”

Onus on Rahul, Gill

Earlier, it was Ben Stokes’ counter-attacking hundred, after his five-wicket haul on Day 2, that pushed the match away from India. India walked back for lunch two down with just a run on the board, and the onus is majorly on their two experienced batters – KL Rahul and Shubman Gill – to survive England's early burst and provide stability to the innings.

India's woes have deepened amid growing uncertainty over Rishabh Pant's availability to bat. Though he came out in the first innings despite a fractured toe, his restricted movement was evident. With India already two wickets down and the top order rattled, the team management faces a difficult call: is it worth risking Pant again if the collapse continues?