A total of 13 wickets fell on Day 1 of the fourth Test between England and India at The Oval. England reached 53/3 at stumps after India were bowled out for 191. They still trail by 138 runs.
James Anderson, who returned 8-5-6-3 in his first spell at Headingley a week ago, failed to make an impact with the new ball this time. Joe Root replaced him with Chris Woakes after India took 20 from his four overs.
Just when anyone would think India had got off to an assured start, Woakes, on his first match for England since August 2020, got Rohit Sharma (11) in his opening over with a peach.
India were 28/1 in eight overs when Rohit fell. They did not manage to add a single run on the scoreboard in the next six overs. Ollie Robinson, who swung the ball both ways since morning, finally got his reward after the drinks break when he pinned K.L Rahul (17) leg before with a nip-backer. Rahul reviewed, but Hawkeye suggested it would have hit the top of off stump.
Root replaced Robinson, who returned excellent figures of 8-6-8-1 off his opening spell with Anderson. Fans in The Oval got excited in no time with that move, as they were eager to witness the duel between Virat Kohli and Anderson.
Kohli welcomed Anderson with a majestic straight drive to get off the mark. However, in his next over, Anderson delivered an absolute beauty to find Cheteshwar Pujara's (4) edge. India were in a bit of bother, slipping to 39/3.
They promoted Ravindra Jadeja at No. 5 ahead of Ajinkya Rahane. He was unharmed at lunch, but did not last long after the break. Root, who dropped Kohli on 22 a while ago, held on at first slip when Woakes found Jadeja’s (10) outside edge.
All of a sudden, India were down to 69/4, and then 73/5 after Rahane was given out leg before on the field. He decided to go upstairs after a short discussion with Kohli, and survived after replays showed the ball would have gone over the stumps by the tiniest of margins.
Kohli played some gorgeous shots before running a quick single to bring up his half-century. He often converts the fifties into hundreds, but that did not happen this time, when he nicked Robinson’s outside off stump delivery through to Jonny Bairstow.
Rahane became Craig Overton’s victim just before tea. Moeen Ali took a sharp catch low down to his right at third slip to end Rahane’s stay. Rishabh Pant struggled to find his flamboyance and holed out to mid off, and India were left reeling on 127/7.
Shardul Thakur started to counterattack straightaway after the interval. He struck seven fours and three sixes to hit the fastest ever Test fifty at The Oval. He and Umesh Yadav forged 63 for the eighth wicket to take India to a respectable total, where the latter contributed with 10.
Thakur’s blistering knock came to an end after Woakes trapped him leg before. India lost their next two for just one run before being bowled out.
Coming from the break, England were reduced to 6/2 after Jasprit Bumrah dismissed both Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed in the fourth over. Dawid Malan and Root steadied the ship, adding 46 for the third wicket.
Kohli asked Umesh to bowl the second-last over of the day, and Umesh delivered a massive blow by cleaning up Root (21) by sheer pace. Umesh leapt in joy, and rightly so, as the game hung in balance with this wicket. Overton saw off a maiden from Bumrah before the close of play.
Brief scores: India 191 (Shardul Thakur 57; Chris Woakes 4-55) lead England 53/3 (Dawid Malan 26; Jasprit Bumrah 2-15) by 138 runs.