The side could well have ended Day 1 of the fourth Test at The Oval out of the contest already. But an inspiring final session where No.8 Shardul Thakur blazed an attacking half-century and seamers Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav dismissed England’s top-order, including the in-form Joe Root.
Staring down the barrel at 127/7, India were able to reach 191 all out and garner some sense of respectability to their total, thanks in no small part to the counterattacking knock played by Thakur. Walking into the situation where his team had their backs against the wall, and England pacers had their tails up, Thakur batted out of his skin to produce 57 runs off just 36 balls.
More than the power-hitting skills on display, what stood out is Thakur’s mental make-up, a never-give-up attitude as he went after the England bowlers with no fear of getting out. And once he went for it wholeheartedly, even some of the risks taken paid off and resulted in crucial boundaries. There were 10 of them, seven fours and three sixes.
As at the Gabba, it was another unexpected but highly impressive batting effort from Thakur, who averages only a shade over 16 at the first-class level, but has shown in two of his fifties for India in challenging circumstances that he is definitely no mug with the bat at the Test level.
Once Thakur fell LBW, India could only add another run to their score for the last two wickets, and a sense of sombreness returned about their innings. It was clearly a below-par score, reflecting, once again, the visitors’ longstanding batting issues.
But India didn’t lose the momentum that Thakur’s innings had shifted their way, with ace quick Jasprit Bumrah removing the two England openers Rory Burns (5) and Haseeb Hameed (0) cheaply in his very first spell to reduce the hosts to just 6/2. Bumrah got Burns edging one onto his stumps and Hameed nicking behind to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Root then joined England’s No.3 Dawid Malan at the crease, and for a while, in the absence of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, India looked worryingly short of control and consistency in their bowling. Root got off to another solid start, quickly racing past the 20-run mark while Malan also pounced on every opportunity to score through his 26*.
However, India caught the big fish just then, as Umesh got Root out bowled with a peach of a delivery that shaped up to be an outswing initially but jagged back in late to disturb the stumps. With Root gone on 21 and England 53/3 at the close of play, the Indian hopes were raised.
But they would not have required such a good couple of hours just to stay in the game if their batting unit had held its own in the first couple of the sessions. Similar problems were on display for the Indians, who lost their two in-form opening batsmen KL Rahul (17) and Rohit Sharma (11), very early, which exposed their struggling middle-order to the semi-new dukes ball.
Cheteshwar Pujara (4), Ajinkya Rahane (14), Ravindra Jadeja (10), who was promoted to bat at No.5, and Rishabh Pant (9) all failed collectively again. And though skipper Virat Kohli produced another promising half-century (50) where he batted with good confidence and clarity, he will be disappointed not to have continued and made something substantial. Kohli was out edging the ball again.
Chris Woakes (4/55) and Ollie Robinson (3/38) were the pick of the bowlers for the home team.
Brief scores
England 53/3 in 17 overs (Dawid Malan 26*, Joe Root 21; Jasprit Bumrah 2/15, Umesh 1/15) trail India 191 in 61.3 overs (Shardul Thakur 57, Virat Kohli 50; Chris Woakes 4/55, Ollie Robinson 3/38) by 138 runs
