Bumrah, Jadeja craft India win in 4th Test
Bumrah, Jadeja blow away England as India wins 4th Test by 157 runs
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja blew away the England middle order to fashion India’s emphatic 157-run victory in the fourth Test, here on Monday. Chasing 368 for a win, England were positioned nicely at 131 for two in the opening session but lost six wickets in the middle session with Bumrah and Jadeja wreaking havoc on the fifth and final day of the game. The hosts were eventually all out for 210 to hand India a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
A menacing Jasprit Bumrah joined forces with a canny Ravindra Jadeja to decimate England by 157 runs in the fourth Test as India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, here on Monday.
The India bowling attack was without two of its senior pacers, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, but was still potent enough to bowl out England for 210 in 92.2 overs. The host was chasing a tough target of 368. Bumrah (22-9-27-2) and Jadeja (30-11-50-2) hit England with such ferocity that a batsman of Joe Root’s (36 off 78 balls) stature looked dumbfounded at the other end with the kind of distress that his fellow batters were in.
Perhaps that was the reason Shardul Thakur’s (8-1-22-2) off-cutter was dragged back onto the stumps by Root, signalling the end of English resistance. Umesh Yadav (18.2-2-60-3) then completed the formalities with the second new ball as India won two Test matches in a single series in England after a gap of 35 years.
Virat Kohli had said after the third Test that a win at Lord’s didn’t guarantee a win at Leeds and a humbling defeat in the third match didn’t mean that the tables could not be turned at the Oval. The skipper’s thoughts were vindicated by his team with an all-round performance -- Rohit Sharma showing steely temperament and Shardul giving it his all.
Jadeja hit the rough created outside the left-hander’s off-stump as his skipper had assessed at the toss. He started the slide making Haseeb Hameed (63 off 193 balls) pay for his ultra-defensive tactic with a classic left-arm spinner’s dismissal. Then, it was Bumrah’s turn to unleash his sharp incoming reverse swinging deliveries with a lethal mix of yorkers for Ollie Pope (2) and Jonny Bairstow (0).
India 191 & 466 bt England 290 & 210 in 92.2 overs (H Hameed 63, R Burns 50, U Yadav 3/60)
Shastri not going to Manchester
India head coach Ravi Shastri has tested positive for COVID-19 along with two members of the support staff in the confirmatory RT-PCR tests, ruling them out of the team’s fifth and final Test against England in Manchester later this week. The 59-year-old Shastri returned positive in a lateral flow test (Rapid Antigen Test) on Sunday and Monday, with his RT-PCR test report confirming the infection. Three support staff members – bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin Patel – were also isolated after being deemed his close contacts.