Ndia relive Oval magic, fifty years on
Mrah & Co show -day mastery on ss than helpful ch for a 157-run , 2-1 series lead
India’s world class k produced a bowling masass on a flat deck at The on Monday to secure a orable 157-run victory in ourth Test against England. he tourists were on the back after conceding a 99-run innings lead but made nds in the second innings n the pitch got increasingly to bat on. hey racked up a series-high n their second outing to set and 368, a daunting target on such a flat pitch. peners Haseeb Hameed and
Burns responded with a ury partnership but England velled after lunch on the day, losing six wickets for ns. sprit Bumrah lit up that seswith what former England ain Michael Vaughan called l of the summer by an absocountry mile”. n a pitch that offered little he seamers, Bumrah generreverse swing with the old to trouble the batsmen. he 27-year-old breached Pope’s defence and, in his over, clean bowled Jonny stow for a duck with a searnswinging yorker. hat 6-3-6-2 spell by the er with an unorthodox n made sure England’s cole was just a matter of time. dia captain Virat Kohli later they wanted to get the most of the old ball on an unresive pitch. he ball got scuffed up quite ly and then we managed to e one side heavier,” Kohli ained. “Our guys, when the s reversing enough, they me much more lethal and xploited reverse swing pery today.”
Bumrah effectively took the out of the equation, Jadeja e the most of it. he left-arm spinner kept ng the ball into the rough spun one past Hameed’s bat onto his off-stump. He subently landed one more ery on those footmarks to oeen Ali caught at short leg duck. ngland’s slim hopes of saving the match hinged on their captain Joe Root but Kohli made an inspired bowling change to get rid of his counterpart.
Root had been watching wickets tumbling at the other end, and he joined that procession after dragging an innocuous Shardul Thakur delivery onto his stumps and departed for 36.
Umesh Yadav claimed three wickets, including of Chris Woakes, who made strong impression in his return to the English Test side after 12 months.
Woakes was the pick of the English bowlers in both the Indian innings and also made a breezy 50 in the first innings.
Rest of the English bowling, particularly James Anderson, looked jaded with the workload.
Root was looking forward to welcome a fit-again Mark Wood in the fifth and final Test beginning at Old Trafford on Friday.
“Woody’s coming good, that’s promising going into things,” Root said. “One big push for the guys that they go out there and play next week at Old Trafford, but their efforts and their skill levels have been very high so I’m really proud of those guys.”
India laid bare England’s deficiencies: Vaughan
Battle-hardened India exposed shortcomings of England in all departments with their famous win in the fourth Test, reckons former skipper Michael Vaughan.
Vaughan found faults in every department of the game. “The deficiencies of England’s Test team were laid bare this week in batting, bowling and fielding. They were beaten by battle-hardened opponents who know how to win the key moments,” Vaughan wrote in his column for ‘The Telegraph’.
“It started with their catching on Day 1, continued through their batting in the first innings before their bowling was exposed on a flat wicket over the weekend. I would like to know why in the last couple of years this fielding team has not improved. They continue to drop chances and should have bowled India out for 125 in the first innings,” he said.
Vaughan said England did not make enough runs in their first innings and also questioned the shot selection of the batsmen.
“England played some poor strokes through lapses in concentration. Haseeb Hameed chased a wide ball, for example, and Moeen Ali top-edged one in the air when England were strolling the game. Those were poor cricket shots.”
Buttler, Leach added
England have added wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and spinner Jack Leach to their squad for the fifth Test, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Tuesday.
Buttler missed the fourth Test to attend the birth of his child while Leach has been recalled for the final match of the series.
Batsman Sam Billings, who did not feature at The Oval, has returned to his club Kent.
The RT-PCR test results for India head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar have returned positive for Covid. Team physio Nitin Patel whose results came negative, will remain in isolation for a period of 10 days. They will miss the rest of the tour.
It is learnt Shastri developed symptoms on Saturday after which he underwent lateral flow tests, which returned a positive result. Although no one from India’s playing squad have been deemed close contacts, all of them have undergone RT PCR tests as a precautionary measure and the results are awaited. The entire squad underwent another round of lateral flow tests before the final day’s play on Monday. All came negative and then they left for the Oval.
The Indian team is scheduled to travel to Manchester on Tuesday for the final Test starting on September 10. The travel plans will be dictated by their Covid test results.
The ongoing series is being played under relatively relaxed guidelines for Covid-19 after the UK government eased all social distancing norms for the public in July. No bio-secure bubbles have been created, and the players have been allowed to move freely, even go to restaurants where the staff has had double vaccination. The Indian team members had attended Shastri’s book launch function before the Oval Test where outsiders were allowed to mingle freely with the squad.