N ANANTHANARAYANAN

LONDON: KL Rahul sprinted back from mid-on, eyes glued on the ball over his shoulder to complete Stuart Broad’s catch off Ravindra Jadeja. He then held up one finger of his left hand and three of his right to point out it was his 13th catch — the most taken in a Test series in England.

But the numbers that matter for an opener have been hard to get. Though Rahul tried to bat positively after falling to in-coming deliveries, he fell on 37 — one run better than his best in eight previous i nnings. Left-arm seamer Sam Curran, the Surrey all-rounder playing at The Oval, his home turf, got one to swing and seam to hit Rahul’s offstump.

It gradually opened up India’s innings. And once skipper Virat Kohli (49) edged a drive off Ben Stokes to second slip, soon after exchanging words with him — the all-rounder also got Rishabh Pant (5) in similar fashion. The visitors were 174/6 at close, still 158 behind England’s robust first innings 332 on Day 2 of the fifth Test on Saturday.

James Anderson complained about the original ball — it didn’t swing — and confronted umpire Kumar Dharmasena for turning down a close leg before appeal against Kohli, the one wicket he has sought all series. A review showed impact to be marginally in line with the off-stump, umpire’s call. Dharmasena got skipper Joe Root involved.

But Anderson, angling for Glenn Mcgrath’s 563 scalps — most Test wickets for a pacer — got the replacement ball to talk after tea. The in-form Cheteshwar Pujara (37), playing beautifully until then, was furious to be sucked into nicking one that moved away l ate. Ajinkya Rahane (0) gave a regulation slip catch. Kohli batted with debutant Hanuma Vihari (25 batting), who was first clueless, then got a leg before decision against Broad reversed, and top-edged Stokes