Quick guide:
England vs India – 4th Test
After an innings defeat for visitors; teams moved to South London for the 4th test of Pataudi Trophy which was being played at KIA Oval.
England didn’t put a foot wrong in the last match and sealed a victory on 4th day. It looked like they certainly found the right balance going forward to this match. India on the other hand; were still in good position in the series. There were some concerns in their batting but performance of Pujara and Kohli provided moral boost in the Indian camp.
English team had to do a force change as Jos Butler left the squad for birth of his second child. Ollie Pope was playing his first match of the series. Chris Woakes was drafted straight into the lineup with his recovery post heel injury in place of struggling Sam Curran. In his post-match presentation, Virat Kohli hinted that they will be managing workload of their bowlers. Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur were included in place of Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.
England won the toss and put Virat Kohli’s men to test on a flat pitch with a tingle of green and slight cloud on first day morning.
Indian lineup: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk.), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
England’s lineup: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow (wk.), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.
Day 1
Both Indian openers were looking solid from start until the first bowling change. Chris Woakes got Rohit Sharma (11/27) with a peach in his first over of comeback match. India lost their 1st wicket for 28 runs. Ever impressive Ollie Robinson got KL Rahul (17/44) LBW straight after drinks break. India lost both their openers well within first session of day 1 who were consistently giving good start to the team.
Pujara got off the mark with a boundary as India scored first run after 7 overs. Anderson got Pujara (4/31) as he nicked an away swinger to the keeper. With this wicket, Anderson became most successful bowler against Pujara. Indian team were stumbling at 39 for loss of 3 wickets.
Unexpectedly, Ravindra Jadeja joined his skipper in the middle ahead of Ajinkya Rahane. After a long time Virat Kohli looked comfortable in the middle as he played some beautiful cover drives. India reached their 50 in 23rd over at loss of 3 wickets. At the end of the first session India were 54/3 with Jadeja and Kohli as unbeaten batters. It was England’s session as they got rid of both openers who were consistent throughout this series.
From the start of the second session, Kohli was looking in great touch as he was driving gloriously on both sides. He was put down at 22 by Joe Root of Chris Woakes bowling. Later, Woakes got Jadeja (10/34) with an edge straight to second slip. Indian team were 69/4 as Jadeja couldn’t make most of this promotion in batting order.
The new batter Ajinkya Rahane was also struggling against Woakes. He was saved by the DRS once. Indian skipper was putting up a show of cover drives and square drive in the middle. He reached to his fifty in 40th over. Ollie Robinson squared him up before he could add anything to his score. India was 105 for 5 after Virat’s (50/96) wicket.
India lost their vice-captain (14/47) before tea break as Moeen Ali took a good slip catch of Craig Overton’s bowling. India was 122 for 6 after 2nd session. Although India scored good runs in afternoon session but loss of 3 more wicket left them with only Rishabh Pant and tail-enders.
3rd session was story of India’s fighting spirit as a unit. Without adding much Rishabh Pant (9/33) was back in the hut as he was trying to clear the ground, but Chris Woakes got him on a slower delivery. India was 127 for 7.
From there, Shardul Thakur who rescued India in Gabba again came into act. He hammered every English bowler all around the park along with some exquisite straight drives. He got LBW out of Woakes but rescued India with his 36 balls 57. Both Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav forged a game changing partnership of 63 runs. Indian team were all out at 191 runs.
English openers, Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed who got to a century opening stand in last match couldn’t give a start to England in this innings. India’s spearhead Jasprit Bumrah got both opener in 4th over of their innings.
Rory Burns (5/11) chopped on while trying to defend the bowl on backfoot and Haseeb Hameed (0/12) was caught by Rishabh Pant on short ball outside off. England were 6 for 2 and as their skipper Joe Root, highest run scorer of this series joined Dawid Malan in the middle.
Both Root and Malan were playing positively and looking to rebuild the innings. They forged a 46-run partnership in just 11 overs before Umesh Yadav hit the timber and got Joe Root (21/25) in 16th over. This was massive wicket for Indian team.
End of the day, England scored 53 runs for loss of 3 wickets. England were slightly ahead India on day 1 as they got restricted India well below par, but Indian team gained momentum in final session.
Highlights : Day 1 India v England
Day 2
Mohammed Siraj started the proceedings for India in the 2nd day. It was an ideal start for India as Umesh Yadav got night-watchmen Craig Overton for 1 run. The pair couldn’t add anything to the overnight score.
Umesh Yadav struck again as he squared up Dawid Malan (31/67) to pick his 3rd and India’s 5th wicket. England were in a state of bother, they lost 5 wickets in just 62 runs.
Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope played confidently and started counter attacking. There were some quality shots and even hattrick of fours from both batters. England ended the session on a high.
Although they lost 2 wickets but the 77-run partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope was looking threatening for India. England were 139 for 7 at the stroke of lunch.
Siraj broke 89-run partnership as he trapped Bairstow (37/77) in front. England lost their 6th wicket at 151 runs.
Ollie Pope completed his fifty of a four in his comeback match. Mooen Ali and Pope forged another partnership as England took the lead. They took the lead to 31 runs before Jadeja got the breakthrough. Mooen Ali (35/71) tried to slog him but could only top edge the ball straight to Rohit Sharma.
England were 227 for 7 at the end of 2nd session. Ollie Pope was unbeaten on 74 along with Chris Woakes.
Woakes started the last session with 2 fours off Bumrah. Shardul Thakur got the much-needed wicket of Ollie Pope (81/159) as he looked to guide the ball to 3rd man but played onto the stumps. Jadeja straightaway got another wicket as Ollie Robinson (5/6) was looking to slog him over cow corner. England were 255 for loss of 9.
From there on Chris Woakes played and crucial knock of 50 runs taking England score to 290 and lead of 99 runs. He got runout while trying to take single of last ball. England got all out for 291 runs.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were up against new ball pair Anderson and Robinson. They were playing the new superbly but for last 3 innings English bowlers were getting early breakthrough. James Anderson nearly produced another such start for England as Rohit Sharma was dropped by Rory Burns at 2nd slip.
On the other hand, Rahul was looking very confident and gave good start to India. They were 43 for no loss at the end of the day. Second day was also dominated by England as they got lead of nearly 100 runs.
Highlights : Day 2 India v England
Day 3
Indian batters continued their form as they reached another 50-run partnership. The opening partnership between Rahul and Rohit has been a revelation in this series. Rahul was taking on English bowlers as India scored 36 runs in just first hour of 3rd day. KL Rahul (46/101) missed his half-century as Anderson got the much-needed breakthrough for England.
India lost their first wicket at 83 runs. Pujara joined Rohit Sharma in middle as the pair wiped out the deficit before end of first session. At the stroke of lunch India scored 108 runs at loss of just 1 wicket. Rohit Sharma was unbeaten at 47 and Pujara at 15.
Pujara was looking positive in the middle as he started with 4 boundaries in first 21 balls he faced. Rohit Sharma again scored a fifty. His merry form continued in this tour.
Pujara and Rohit were bullying English bowlers especially Mooen Ali. They were rotating the strike and scoring odd boundaries. Rohit Sharma scored his first overseas test hundred with a six of Mooen Ali’s delivery. It was a wonderful knock as hitman also broke the record of most centuries scored by an Indian in England.
India finished the session on a high as they scored 199 runs for loss of just 1 and got a lead of 100 runs. Pujara also reached his fifty with the start of evening session. Both batsmen got to a partnership of 150 runs as India extended it leads to 134.
Ollie Robinson took the second new ball and strike gold straight away. He got Rohit Sharma (127/256) first ball and Pujara (61/127) in the same over. India was 237/3 with a lead of 138. Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on Day 3 as play was called off due to bad lights. India was right back into the game as they extended the lead to 171 with 7 wickets remaining.
Highlights : Day 3 India v England
Day 4
Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja got to a partnership of 50-run early in day 4. England introduced Chris Woakes and he got the breakthrough straight-away as Ravindra Jadeja (17/59) was caught in front for LBW. Ajinkya Rahane also got out in the same spell to Chris Woakes for a duck. India was 296/5 with a lead of 197.
Before the end of morning session Mooen got Virat Kohli in 40s. First innings hero Shardul Thakur joined Rishabh Pant in the middle.
India was having a lead of 230 before the start of afternoon session. England were into the tail, but Thakur had other ideas. He started cautiously but once set English bowling looked clueless against him. He made a wonderful partnership with Rishabh Pant. He scored yet another fifty, this time off 65 deliveries. India’s lead breached 300 run mark as both batters got to partnership of 100 runs.
Joe Root finally provided the breakthrough for England. Thakur (60/72), trying to play an outside off-stump delivery to the covers nicked it straight to slip. Meanwhile Rishabh Pant (50/106) reached his fifty but got out straightaway to Mooen Ali. India’s lead was 315 runs.
Bumrah and Umesh’s 36 run partnership to the lead past 350.
There were some exquisite drives from Bumrah and slogs from Umesh Yadav. India got all-out for 466 with a massive lead of 367 runs. England had a monumental target in front of them to chase.
Their opening pair, Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed got to a 50-run opening partnership. There was nothing from Indian bowlers as the pitch behaved same throughout the day. Indian team fought hard in this match from behind and found themselves in a commanding position before getting into 5th day.
Highlights : Day 4 India v England
Day 5
Both overnight batters were looking comfortable against Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav, who started the proceeding on day 5. Burns and Hameed bought up 100-run partnership within 30 minutes of play on day 5.
Shardul Thakur came into the attack and straightaway provided breakthrough to India. He got Rory Burns (50/125) caught behind from round the wicket. By the end of first hour England were 109/1 and still needed 259 runs to win.
Jadeja started bowling from one end into the rough. He was occasionally producing unplayable deliveries but kept the scoreboard in check. Before lunch Dawid Malan (5/33) got run-out while trying to sneak a single which was never there. It was brilliant field work from Mayank Agarwal and Rishabh Pant to get 2nd breakthrough for India. England were 131/2 at lunch with Haseeb Hameed unbeaten on 62 along with his skipper Joe Root.
Joe Root started the 2nd session with a reverse sweep of Jadeja, but he hit back soon. Bowling from over the wicket into the rough, he brought Hameed (63/193) forward for defense, but the bowl turned mile to castle the stumps.
Jasprit Bumrah was brought into the attack for his second spell of today. Bumrah was on fire with the old ball. He bowled fast and reverse-swinging deliveries against which English batter were clueless. He bowled Ollie Pope (2/11) and Jonny Bairstow (0/4) in consecutive overs. England were left shattered at 146/5, with no option other than securing a draw.
It wasn’t the end of England’s misery as Mooen Ali (0/4) fell to Jadeja’s spin trap. He got out for a duck and England were 147/6. Chris Woakes and Joe Root did show some fight to get a draw but India’s golden boy of this match, Shardul Thakur got the breakthrough. It was a harmless outside off-stump delivery which Root (36/78) tried to late cut but chopped-on to the stumps.
England lost their skipper at 182. Lower order couldn’t show anymore fight as India sealed the victory by 157 runs. Rohit Sharma was awarded with player of the match for his century in 2nd innings. He laid the foundation of a monumental total.
Highlights : Day 5 India v England
Key Points
- Indian test team has been showing lot of grit and determination over few series. They are becoming masters of fightback(s). This team is unarguably best test team going around. This performance was one such.
- India’s ability to make a comeback in the corridors of uncertainty has been one of the highlights in the tour.
- England were ahead at one stage but couldn’t capitalize on it. This has been second time in this series for them.
India can’t lose this series from here on and are favorites to win it. - This would be a memorable year in Indian cricket history if they could win against England at their home. Already conquered Australia, Virat Kohli’s men have a chance to be claimed as one of the best sides to play test cricket.
~ Divyansh (Team Member, Beyond the Matches)
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