Oval, Sept 5 (Agency) That was a fascinating final session. England’s 77-run opening stand has done two things, it’s lifted England’s hopes of survival on a still-benign pitch, and it’s reduced the requirement to less than 300, which is the ballpark figure of a standard 90-overs of batting. So, all four results remain possible! But Ravindra Jadeja, after an unusually sketchy start, is making those footmarks talk, and now that he’s found his rhythm, he can expect to be a massive factor tomorrow.
England’s openers were tasked with seeing out 32 overs in the evening session and managed to do so with few concerns. Virat Kohli quickly turned to Ravindra Jadeja, who bowled 13 overs on the trot as he searched for the rough created by the seamers’ footholes, but he struggled for consistency in his length. Burns was gritty and defensive but Hameed found some fluency, clipping boundaries off his pads and driving forcefully through the covers to leave England eyeing an improbable win.
Nevertheless, England bat deep, with Moeen, Woakes, Overton and Robinson all very capable batters, and they will take confidence from this batting, as well as the efforts of India’s own lower order, with Shardul Thakur making another fine fifty, and Bumrah and Umesh lumping it too. Pant made a responsible fifty too. It’s all systems go for a Manic Monday!
Brief scores:England 77/0 (Haseeb Hamed 43, Rory Burns 31) & 290; India-191 & 466 (Rohit Sharma 127, Cheteshwar Pujara 61, Shardul Thakur 60; Chris Woakes 3-83) by 291 runs