ENG vs IND | 4th Test: Listless hosts capitulate to give fiery India 2-1 lead at the Oval

For all the expectations England built over the 30 odd overs of their openers batting late on the fourth day, nothing came to rescue them when the heat was on from a fiery Indian pace attack and always accurate Ravindra Jadeja.

England slipped to a massive defeat after starting the day as one of the favourites to win the game considering the lack of support for the bowlers from the surface at Lord’s.

But, their mediocrity with the bat had to be found out as the Indian bowlers lifted their game just at the right moment in the afternoon session. The final day that began with all four results possible and remained a little bit the same till the first session was reduced to a mere battle of survival for England and dominance for India in a matter of a few overs by Bumrah and Jadeja.

Bumrah’s spell for the ages

Sky Sports commentators such as Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain were repetitively emphasizing that the pitch at the Oval doesn’t resemble a fifth-day pitch and hence England, especially, after a solid start by the openers could dare to go for the win.

Their analyses of the surface were not wrong one bit and it was evident that the bowlers would have to bring their X-factor to get those 10 England wickets. 

After Shardul Thakur and Dawid Malan gave India an opening in the first session, Jasprit Bumrah took it upon himself to bring India well and truly into the game and how did he do that? He did it by taking the “pitch out of the equation”.

Once again, Atherton could see what Bumrah was up to when he was setting up Ollie Pope with attempted away going deliveries one after the other. He was warning on the air about Bumrah also having a nip-backer that comes sharply into right-handers but sadly telepathy doesn’t work for the batsmen and England’s number five could not see what was coming his way.

A hooping delivery castled Pope’s stumps and provided India with the lift to go for the kill. 

He was not done only there and bettered himself with a searing inswinging yorker that left Jonny Bairstow pale and helpless with the bat. 

With two wickets in quick succession, India had one big rock in Joe Root ahead of them and Bumrah has had him on a couple of occasions in the series. He bowled two as good a yorker to Root as he had castled Bairstow with but the form and confidence helped the England captain dig those toe crushers out.

His bowling spell in the afternoon session read 6-3-6-2 wickets and although it did not take more than two wickets, the sudden sense of the momentum shift was quite visible on England batsmen and also his teammates.

No wonder, Hussain had to liken his spell to some of the generation bowling spells of Waqar Younis on dry and flat pitches after he clearly rattled the England batting group.

Jadeja’s suffocating control

Ravindra Jadeja’s selection over Ravichandran Ashwin has created quite a bit of buzz in the series and somewhere it is established that he has been preferred for his batting than his bowling.

Before the Oval Test, he was not required in a great deal and neither his performance exceeded expectations. However, with a pitch as flat as the one at the Oval and India setting a huge target for England, it was his momentum of reckoning to come good with the ball.

However, he was not at his best at the start of the spell. His uncharacteristic short balls and full tosses allowed both Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed to get some breather on the fourth day. He had conceded 24 runs off his first six overs and was struggling for rhythm.

The fifth day was a different challenge though and by all accounts, he was up and ready for every bit of it.

The accuracy and precision of finding the perfect spot to land the ball and consistency to hit balls one after another was reloaded in his armoury. He was all over Dawid Malan for his short stay at the crease and nearly had him twice in a space of 12 balls.

His drying act asphyxiated Hameed so much that a release shot came in a rash manner but only for Mohammed Siraj to spill an easy catch at mid-on.

Jadeja was not to be dissuaded with that though and kept on drying the runs for England batsmen. He was monotonous from over the wicket, bowling in the rough patch. The batsmen Hameed had an option of padding those deliveries for not having the fear of getting LBW but he was not confident on the amount of turn and bounce the balls would have taken from those rough patches and hence relied on the bat to defend Jadeja.

The indecisiveness was catastrophic and one ball turned too much to beat him on the outside and edge and shattered his stump and with that England’s most stubborn resistance in the second innings as well.

He was on the money from the other end when Bumrah was breathing fire at the other end and when Joe Root took a quick single to gift him an opportunity to bowl to another left-hander from the rough, he obliged gleefully to dismiss Moeen Ali and shake England middle order.

What started as a 24 run-yielding spell of six overs, ended as a mere 50 runs-conceding spells of 30 overs and his control from one end enabled Kohli to continue attacking with the pacers from the other end.

‘Lord’ Shardul’s magic wand

India were very tight with their line and length to start the day and did not allow England openers to get on a roll after a near-perfect start on the previous day. However, the wicket did not come their way and it was becoming a cause of concern for the Kohli’s troops.

The concerns were there though only till Shardul Thakur, who could not do anything wrong in this game was called on to bowl. He started the spell with odd deliveries on the leg side to offer Burns easy runs but soon after produced possibly the ball of the game till that moment. The ball he dismissed Burns on pitched in short of good length area and nipped away off the pitch to take the edge of the left-hander’s bat.

Kohli was over the moon as his selection call regarding Shardul was getting vindicated with each and every success of his bowler but it was not the biggest moment for them in the game.

After the dismissal of the top three, England’s hopes were lying purely on the shoulders of skipper Root. He looked the best England batsmen and was remarkable in his defence against an on-fire Bumrah but his mastery and good form could not provide him with a lifeline against the wrath of ‘Lord’ Shardul who got him with an innocuous delivery outside off stump. 

He had dismissed Ollie Pope, England’s leading-run scorer in the first innings in a similar manner and with Root’s wicket, it was evident that his stars were stringer than all of England at the Oval from the first day to the last.

India have taken a comprehensive lead of 2-1 with a game to go in the five-match series and England have been handed a harsh reality check once again after the highs of Headingley. They might as well go back to playing on a seaming pitch to protect themselves from losing a big Test series at home as defeating this Indian team on a flat surface is not an easy task. However, they will have to be wary of India’s pace attack as well in case they lose the toss at Old Trafford.

The win at the Oval vindicated many calls Kohli took as the captain and those calls will continue to be taken if the pitch in Manchester asks him to do so. On the other hand, Root will have to search for inspiration once again to lift his side from another demoralising loss at the Oval.