Team India was at their best as they took an unbeatable lead of 2-1 in this ongoing five-match Test series against England by winning the fourth Test at the Oval in London by 157 runs.
While the tourists were down and out after they were bowled out for 191 after Joe Root invited them to bat first as well as after conceding a 99-run lead to England in their first innings. But, the visitors showed great character in the last couple of days to shift the match in their favour.
Thus, the former England pacer Steve Harmison in his recent interaction, lauded this Indian team for their comeback win and also pointed out how some teams get tired on the final day of a Test match but that wasn’t the case with India.
“In the pressure situation that India find themselves on Day five, they keep going and they keep asking questions of the opposition. Sometimes on day five, you are tired, and when you play constantly under that sort of pressure with what Indian players do in IPL and stuff like that, then all off a sudden you can break a team down,” Harmison told ESPNCricinfo.
The Englishman then compared this Indian team that recently won their second consecutive Test series in Australia with a fantastic win at their fortress The Gabba in Brisbane as well as thrashed England 3-1 when they toured India earlier this year with the Australian side form mid-2000s.
“The great Australian side, me and VVS(Laxman) played against, they broke you down on day five. That’s when their skill levels came out and they won the game then.
I think this Indian team is turning into that. They break teams down, get them to a point of submission. Because they are so used to bowling or batting under pressure, then their skill sets come out in the end,” the right-arm quick concluded.
With India taking the 2-1 lead in this five-match Test series with just one more match to go, it will be interesting to see whether India make it 3-1 or do the hosts manage to replicate the performance of Headingley to level the series yet again at Old Trafford in Manchester.
(With ESPNCricinfo)
