India and England battled it out on a riveting day of Test cricket at The Oval on day one of the fourth Test. Pacers gave England early onus in the match as they picked wickets at regular intervals. Indian batsmen had another poor outing as they failed to bat throughout the day yet again.
The coin fell in the favor of Joe Root once again and he took no time in opting to bowl first under the overcast condition of London with a green tinge on the pitch. Both teams made two changes. Chris Woakes and Ollie Pope came in place of Sam Curran and Jos Buttler.
On the other hand, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami were left out due to niggles as Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur replaced them in the playing XI.
Also Read: Shardul Thakur scores a record-breaking fifty in The Oval Test, watch
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul gave India a decent start before both openers got out. Chris Woakes looked threatening in his comeback Test and removed Rohit with a beautiful delivery before Ollie Robinson dismissed Rahul. Cheteshwar Pujara fell in an old fashion against James Anderson.
Skipper Virat Kohli was batting with confidence and notched up his fifty as well with some fine stroke-play. However, he was undone by a jaffa from Robinson. Ajinkya Rahane showed resistance before chasing a wide ball. Rishabh Pant had a rush of blood and threw his wicket.
India were 127/7 when Shardul Thakur started to cut loose. He threw his bats on every ball and played some textbook-style shots. He raced to the second-fastest Test fifty by an Indian in just 32 balls before getting out for 57. Indian innings soon got concluded for 191 with Woakes getting four-fer.
Also Read: Virat Kohli shatters another record with his bat, surpasses Sachin Tendulkar
In response, England hoped from their openers to repeat their efforts from the Headingley Test but Jasprit Bumrah removed both Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed in the same over to rattle England. Joe Root looked at his usual best while batting in the middle. However, a pearler from Umesh Yadav knocked Root’s off-pole and made sure India will breathe easy coming into day 2 with England being 53/3, still trail by 138 runs.
See how Twitter reacted to this game;
This match is as well poised as the series !
Good game 🏏#IndvsEng— Ridhima Pathak (@PathakRidhima) September 2, 2021
Thank God for the Bowlers – both the runs and wickets ! #IndvsEng #Oval
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) September 2, 2021
MASSIVE moment in the day as Umesh Yadav sneaks one past Root’s forward defence to disturb the woodwork.
Tune into Sony Six (ENG), Sony Ten 3 (HIN), Sony Ten 4 (TAM, TEL) & SonyLIV (https://t.co/AwcwLCPFGm ) now! 📺#ENGvINDOnlyOnSonyTen #BackOurBoys #Root #Yadav pic.twitter.com/yPXyQbjLLH
— Sony Sports (@SonySportsIndia) September 2, 2021
Very good call to get Bumrah for the final over. Push hard. This is good stuff from India. 4 balls will be an ordeal for Overton. #IndvsEng
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) September 2, 2021
First @imShard and then @Jaspritbumrah93 and @y_umesh have set up this game. Even at the end of day 1. #IndvsEng
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) September 2, 2021
It takes a Virat Kohli to make that many runs with an average of 50+
Phenomenal 👏#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/G5CLoQa1PY
— DK (@DineshKarthik) September 2, 2021
Shardul Thakur 50 in 31 balls
** the 2nd fastest by an Indian in Tests (Kapil 30 balls)
** the fastest by any batsman in England (Botham 32 balls also at Oval in 1986)#INDvsEND #IndvEng#ENGvIND #EngvsInd— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) September 2, 2021
Wow…..
23000 International Runs under is name so far,
Fastest to reach & come in less that 500 Innings.@imVkohli 👊🏻— 𝑫𝒊𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒏𝒂 (@IamDimuth) September 2, 2021
Best ball of the day to dismiss the world’s top ranked batsman? Feels about right. Neat stuff from our Expected Wickets model, built by @imrankcricket. #ENGvIND https://t.co/5d7JOK97dG
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) September 2, 2021
You groom a couple of young batters and let them either sink or swim. They may fail too initially, but that will still be an investment. Cricket doesn’t wait for anybody #IndvsEng #Oval
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) September 2, 2021
Really enjoyed watching Shardul bat. Yes, a hoick here and there but lots of excellent shots in between. Definitely making a case for a bowling all-rounder at no 8
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 2, 2021
