India completed an incredible 157-run win at The Oval to go 2-1 up in the Test series against England, ending their 50-year wait for a Test victory on the ground.
England captain Joe Root heaped praise on Indian pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah by saying that his spell of reverse swing with the ball during the second session that was 60-odd overs old turned the match in India's favour.
"Credit to India, they got the ball to reverse. I thought Bumrah's spell was the real turning point of the game," said Root during the post-match presentation ceremony.
England were given a great start of 100 by Rory Burns (50) and Haseeb Hameed (63), raising hopes of the home team going after their target of 368.
England were coasting at 141/2, before Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Hameed and then Bumrah bowled Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow soon after to leave England reeling at 146/5.
Eventually, England were cleaned up for 210 and India won the Test by 157 runs after conceding a lead of 99 runs in the first innings.
Root said, "He's (Bumrah) a superb bowler and at times we need to be realistic and accept that he bowled really well. That was world-class bowling. Have to manage better if we're in a similar situation in the near future, especially our game against reverse swing."
The England captain also pointed out at dropped catches by his team and lamented the fact that his team failed to capitalize on their first innings bowling performance.
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England missed at least six clear opportunities during the match and the dropped catches costed them heavily, especially Rohit Sharma who scored 127 after being given two lives.
"Maybe we should have made more of an advantage with the first-innings lead and should have taken the chances that were offered," Root said.
"At the end of the day, we needed to be ruthless, should have got more than a 100-run lead. We needed those big hundreds, big partnerships. We need to play good cricket right around in Old Trafford, can't get complacent. Need to get those big runs which sets up the game, which we did a week ago (in Headingley)," added Root.
The final Test match starts on September 10 at Old Trafford in Manchester.
(With IANS inputs)
