India falter again but Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav provide hope against England

For the second time on this tour of England, India’s bowlers stood up against a rampaging home team bowling attack to halt their progress and lead a spirited fightback with the bat for the fallible visiting team. 

While the first instance resulted in a 151-run victory at Lord’s in the second Test, it remains to be seen what impact would the spirited fightback by the pair of Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav have on the outcome of the fourth Test which began on Thursday at The Oval in London.

After India’s frail batting was blown away once again by a battery of English fast bowlers, this time led by the returning Chris Woakes, Thakur stroked his way to the fastest ever half-century made in England by any batsman in the history to push India to a total of 191 in the first innings. 

Thakur scored 57 runs from 36 balls with the help of seven boundaries and three sixes. In the process, Thakur not only recorded the second fastest half-century by an Indian in Test history ever, also recorded the quickest fifty (from 31 balls) in the Old Blighty, bettering the record set by Sir Ian Botham against New Zealand in 1986 (from 32 balls). Kapil Dev holds the record of quickest fifty for India in Test cricket which he completed in only 30 balls. 

While Thakur’s knock was the biggest highlight of India’s performance on the opening day of the fourth Test, it was largely gloom and disappointment as the visiting side once again produced a pathetic batting display. It all began with Woakes  bouncing out Rohit Sharma for 17 after an impressive start, followed by Ollie Robinson pinning KL Rahul in front of the wickets for 11

James Anderson knows how to dominate the Indian batsmen as he did not need to work extra hard to remove Cheteshwar Pujara (4) out of the equation, as India crawled to a score of 54/3 at lunch but not without throwing a surprise.

Having already shocked the cricket fraternity with their decision to not include the world No 2 bowler Ravichandran Ashwin in their playing XI, India promoted Ravindra Jadeja ahead of their vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane at No 5 in the first session which baffled both critics as well as the team’s ardent fans.

Jadeja lasted all of 34 balls in which he made 10 runs while India continued to flop with the bat. Ajinkya Rahane did not have any great time in the middle either, scoring a painful 14 from 47 balls before a brilliant diving catch in the slips by Moeen Ali ended his stay in the middle, leaving India reeling at 117/6.

But half of these hundred odd runs came from the bat of India captain Virat Kohli, who took upon himself the task of reviving a failing batting effort. Kohli dazzled with exquisite stroke play on the off side, proving why he is considered the best player among all in the world when it comes to playing the cover drive. And before he was caught behind off Robinson, Kohli had scored 50 from 96 balls with the help of eight hits to the boundary.

With India staring at the danger of being dismissed for a poor total once again, Thakur came out swinging hard and reaped the benefits of being brave against quality bowling attack. Thakur hammered England all around the park, bringing up his second half-century in only his fourth Test — his first was at Brisbane earlier this year in the historic Test win. 

Thakur found ample support from the other end in the form of Yadav, who did well to hang around for 20 balls to make 10 for himself. These two batsmen ensured India added 63 runs for the eighth wicket, which pushed their total 191 in the first innings.

In the third over of the English innings, when Rory Burns played one on to his wickets, Jasprit Bumrah did not celebrate as he knew the humongous task which his team was facing. But the Indian fast bowler could not resist celebrating wildly when he had Haseeb Hameed (0) caught behind a few deliveries later in the same over to leave England reeling at 6/2. 

Joe Root, who has scored three centuries already in the series, looked set for another big innings when he resumed the English progression with utmost ease in the company of Dawid Malan. The two batsmen added 46 runs for the third wicket, reviving England from the twin blows early on and scaring India with the prospect of another session of toil.

But Umesh Yadav provided India with the biggest breakthrough of the innings and the day when he got a delivery to nip back enough into the English captain, sneaking the ball through the gate to crash it into the top of the off and middle stump, removing Root for only 21. 

India finished the day at a high, and with another 138 runs left in their kitty, the visitors will look to apply all pressure they can on the English batting line-up sans Root on the second day of The Oval Test.