On a slow, docile Trent Bridge wicket, the first Test between England and India is meandering towards a rather tardy finish. Both teams have piled on 450-plus scores and have been at the receiving end of a long, frustrating last wicket partnership. After reducing England to 202 for 7 and then 298 for 9, India couldn’t take the last wicket for the next 53.2 overs, as Joe Root and James Anderson put up 198. After finally ending the England innings, India finished Day 4 with 167 for 3 and a lead of 128 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 55 of those runs, said it was disappointing to not being able to pick the final wicket early. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy to get them out because we too had a 100-plus run 10th wicket partnership,” Pujara said. “But it was frustrating and disappointing to get seven wickets quickly and not managing to clean up the tail.” India’s one-down batsman admitted that the team needs a strategy for the tail-end batsmen to avoid such agony in the coming Test matches. “We have to figure out how to get the tailenders out,” he said. “The way they scored runs for the last three wickets, we have to regroup and the bowlers need to have a chat. If we are faced with a similar situation, we will have to have a strategy for the tailenders.” Pujara said while the pitch is getting more and more difficult to bowl on, it is also getting harder to score runs on. “The wicket is almost the same, perhaps, it’s slowed down a bit more. So, it is really difficult for the bowlers,” he said. “But at the same time it is getting tougher for the batsmen. You can score easily when the ball is new and hard but once it becomes softer, it is very tough to get runs.” Explaining the plight of the bowlers, Pujara said, “It’s not turning much and there’s hardly anything in it for the spinners. There wasn’t enough bounce in the wicket to get the reverse swing going. And when we did get it to reverse, the ball didn’t carry to the slips. Overall the bowlers did a good job.” While he praised the bowlers, Pujara was disappointed with himself for getting out trying to play an expansive cut, with only seven overs to go in the day. “I was disappointed with the way I got out,” he said. “I should have batted a little more responsibly. It was the fag end of the day and we had also lost Vijay shortly before that. I should have played more carefully. But yes, the ball bounced a little more than I had expected and I couldn’t keep it in control.”