Indian cricket team earned a brilliant comeback win after being bowled out for 191 in the first innings of the fourth Test at the Oval against England. Not many gave India a chance of a victory after being asked to bat first as Joe Root of England won the toss.
It was an amazing rearguard action by the Indian lower order as Shardul Thakur made 57 runs in an amazing counter-attacking knock, while Virat Kohli showed glimpses of returning to form with a stroke-filled 50, as India made 191.
England might have thought of taking a huge lead and putting India under pressure, but apart from Ollie Pope’s 81 and Chris Woakes’ 50, which came after he had taken 4/55, none of the England batsmen couldn't do anything like their talisman Joe Root was bowled for 21. England made 290 and took just a 99-run lead.
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Umesh Yadav picked 3 wickets, while Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja picking two each.
India knew they had to go big in the second innings and the openers did just that as KL Rahul (46) and Rohit Sharma did by adding 83 runs for the 1st wicket. Virat Kohli looked good, but fell for 44, while Cheteshwar Pujara matched Rohit shot for shot before falling for 61. Rohit Sharma played an amazing knock, hitting his maiden overseas Test ton, 127 with 14 fours and 1 six.
England might have sighed relief when Kohli fell, with India's score reading 312/6, and a lead of 213 runs. But then Shardul Thakur produced his second fifty of the match and Rishabh Pant restrained himself for a half-century.
Their 100-run stand was then followed by Umesh Yadav (25) and Jasprit Bumrah (24) taking the final India total to 466.
England needed 368 runs to win and batted out the 4th day without losing the wicket.
But on day 5, things turned as Burns fell to Shardul Thakur for 50 and Dawid Malan ran himself out for 5. Joe Root (36) and Haseeb Hameed (63) tried to delay the inevitable, but then Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja turned the game in India’s favor in the first half of the second session.
Bumrah picked his 100th wicket by removing Ollie Pope for 2 and then yorked Jonny Bairstow for a duck. Jadeja took care of Hameed and Moeen Ali for a duck. Root was castled by Shardul Thakur as floodgates opened.
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Chris Woakes fell to Umesh Yadav for 18, who then bowled Craig Overton for 10 runs. Ollie Robinson tried to hang in there with James Anderson, but the resistance proved to be futile as England was bowled out for 210. India won by 157 runs, only their second victory in Tests at the Oval.
Umesh Yadav picked three wickets, while Bumrah, Jadeja, and Shardul picked two wickets each. With this victory, India went 2-1 up in the five-match series with the last Test to be played at Old Trafford in Manchester from September 10.
The cricket fraternity just couldn’t keep themselves from praising the fighting spirit of the Indian team who had lost the Headingley Test by an innings after being bowled out for 78. They came back to trounce England at Oval, where they had last won a Test in 1971.
Here are the tweets:
