India (191 & 466) beat England (290 & 210) by 157 runs at the Oval to take a 2-1 lead in the series

[Nikhil_cric]

It didn’t work.

I think Silverwood misread the pitch and played safe. England go in with four medium pacers and a mediocre offie on a flat deck and lose. I have seen it so many times.

Wood was certainly good enough bowling full in the WC. England were crying out for a bowler who could do something different in India’s second dig. I have a lot of belief in Wood and would always give him the new ball.

Wood 2.0 averages 35 in England and his overall average is around 40 in England as well. His white ball success had little to do with bowling full. And anyway that's no guarantee for success in Test cricket

 

[Sir Alex]

I don't think English management sees Moeen as a mediocre spinner and for good reasons. Firstly he has nearly 200 test wickets. Secondly, the last 100 of those have come at around 31 a piece, which is very good for someone who plays most of his cricket in England. He has done pretty well in the last 5 years or so everywhere barring Austalia, where finger spinners traditionally have struggled. And his batting adds another dimension.

It's just that India has done a lot of homework on him and negated him. Alp Root as abysmal as a captain, not letting Moeen exert any pressure by giving him defensive fields.

 

[MenInG]

191 all-out while batting first, India had their backs against the wall as England earned a 99-run first innings lead at the 4th Test in Oval. The visitors, however, bounced back in style, putting a whopping total of 466 runs on the board in the second innings to put the pressure back on Joe Root & Co.

Indian bowlers took the onus upon themselves to bundle out England for 210 runs, hence securing a 157-run victory, their first in 50 years at the venue. While there were a number of brilliant individual displays in the game, it's the team's character that drew plaudits from India skipper Virat Kohli.

"Well, I think the best thing about both the games has been the character the team has shown. We are not looking to survive in this game, we are here to win. Really proud of the character the team has shown," Kohli said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

After the game, Kohli even took to Twitter to hail the team's mentality. “Tough situations build strong people. Onto the next one”, he tweeted.

The wicket on the final day was relatively flat, with not much help from the surface for the seamers. The likes of Japsrit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, etc. put in a super show with the ball in deceiving England batters.

"It's quite relative what you call flat. The conditions were hot and we knew were in with an opportunity when Jadeja was bowling in the rough. The bowlers were good with the reverse swing today.

"We believed we could get all 10 wickets, we had the belief. As soon as the ball started reversing, Bumrah said give me the ball. He bowled that spell and swung the game in our favour with those two huge wickets,” he said.

Kohli was also full of praise for Shardul Thakur - who scored two half-centuries in the match and bagged three wickets. For the India skipper, Shardul's performance in the match really stood out.

"I think you pointed his performance. Rohit's innings was fantastic. What Shardul has done in this game stands out. His two fifties deflated the opposition. I think he batted well in both the innings," Kohli added.


"We never go towards analysis, statistics and numbers. We know what we need to focus on and we take a collective decision as a group. It's unfortunate they are not here. Everyone is happy with the win.

"It gives us more motivation to win the next Test. We have the belief, we are just looking forward to the opportunities. The fans have been amazing as well," Kohli concluded.

 

[MenInG]

English skipper Joe Root on Monday rued that they could not take a big first innings lead after dismissing India for a paltry 191 and also dropped a few tough catches, that cost them the fourth Test.

However, the home captain vowed to make a strong comeback at the Old Trafford in the final Test, starting September 10.

England secured a 99-run lead after exploiting the conditions on day two but India came up with a huge second innings effort to set the hosts a stiff 368-run target and won the contest by a comprehensive 157-run margin.

“We should have got a bigger lead the first time round with the bat. It would have been nice to have another 100 runs actually, and then we’re looking at a very different, very different game," Root said in the post-match media interaction.

“It’s been frustrating today to lose 10 wickets. But actually where the game is lost, where we could have really stamped authority on things was earlier in the game."

Root also rued some dropped catches including that of second-innings centurion Rohit Sharma at slip by Rory Burns that proved to be decisive in the end.

“We got to be a little bit more ruthless there, the first innings runs really cost us, as well as catching. We did put down a few chances, some of them were extremely difficult.

“And that has to be said but at the same time you give chances and half chances to world class players. They take them, and we’ve seen that throughout this game."

England collapsed from 141 for two to 210-all out as India won the fourth Test by 157 runs to take a 2-1 lead.

It was all downhill for England after Haseeb Hameed got out for 63 as they lost four wickets for six runs with Jasprit Bumrah making the ball talk with his unplayable reverse-swing.

“It’s disappointing and frustrating, especially with the opportunity to go with a Test match to be bowled out is hard to take.

“But also you’ve got to look at how we responded from the Lord’s and the performance we put in at Headingley," he said referring to their series-levelling win in the previous Test.

“We’ve got a look to do exactly the same when we go to the Old Trafford. We are very confident as we’ve just recently shown we can we’re more than capable of turning things around very quickly.

“We’re going to make sure that we get ourselves in a frame of mind over the next couple of days to do just that. There is every confidence that we can go to Old Trafford and get a win."

The skipper had to deal with some of the injury blows including to their pace duo of Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad, while their talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes has taken an “indefinite break" from cricket.

In such a scenario, much of their workload has been on their veteran pacer James Anderson.

Asked if he would look at rotation, he said: “We’ll have to look at things, we’ll see how everyone pulls up the next couple of days and we’ll be trying to make smart decisions around that."

“It’s been frustrating in terms of having abundant resources to contend with a lot of injuries. So now I have to try and manage that, as well as we can and make sure that we’ve got an attack that can take 20 wickets. It’s a delicate balancing act, one that we will try and make sure we get right," he said.

 

[Jeetlodil]

He hasn’t been exposed against Australia. He has hit big centuries. Just not in Australia yet, where he has had to do constant repair jobs because the top order is so weak. But he still averages 40 there and I back him to get hundreds this winter, given the form he is in.

I am saying the performance will not be as good as what he has done against India. Id be surprised even if he is the highest scorer for England in the series. Plus his captaincy isn't anything to talk about.

 

[Jeetlodil]

I've lost count.

SL, Aus, Pakistan, us x 2?

What's the excuse for this year's T20 and the WC in 2023? Already got those excuses lined it up?

Bottom line is this Indian don't have it in them to be world champions.

India might win 2023. It is at home and that is the trend from the last 3 WCs. But yes India lose it in ICC tournaments somehow.

 

[mastimasti]

I would go as far as saying that Thakur pulled India out off the batting funk it had gone into after the previous Test. His first innings turned the series around for India.

Yes but an equal line of thinking is if Rohit had missed out on a century, India would not have had the massive lead they had, nor the luxury to bat as they wised in the middle order (which only returned a combined 123 runs, one short of Rohit on his own).

I'm not saying Thakur didn't do great but there are valid arguments both ways.

 

[globalcitizen]

That spell by bhumrah was for ages.
Barstow had expression of "why me bro" ?
Scintillating!!

 

[Napa]

Rohit Sharma said Shardul Thakur deserves the Man Of The Match award. He scored two fifities and took wickets, he worked so hard.

Good that Rohit said it. Thakur is 29, and probably has only a few years left. He should be given his due recognition.

 

[ind_win]

Kohli's captaincy and selections let down India in crucial times - yes, he is a successful captain. But what is the use of losing from winning positions and in crucial times, in ODI tournaments & Tests, claiming to be #1 in the world. NZ in NZ, NZ in WTC. NZ have been calm and deserved to win. Indian team have rahane, pujara who succeed once in 5-6 innings and hardly when it matters the most. Even Kohli's form has dipped, nothing of the sort that his fans were projecting, now even if he recovers, which he would, it is not going to make him as one of the top 3-5 in Test ATG.

 

[sweep_shot]

Impressive win from India. They are now looking good to win the series.

 

[sindhiboy]

Wood 2.0 averages 35 in England and his overall average is around 40 in England as well. His white ball success had little to do with bowling full. And anyway that's no guarantee for success in Test cricket

Wood bowls better on flat pitches. He was englands best bowler 2nd innings at lords, which was also a flat pitch.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Wood bowls better on flat pitches. He was englands best bowler 2nd innings at lords, which was also a flat pitch.

Yes but he doesnt bowl well in typical English conditions. The management went for Overton because they thought, and rightly so, that a tall seamer like Overton could make use of a seamer friendly deck which the Oval pitch was for the first 2 sessions. This idea that Wood should have played ahead of Overton is with the luxury of hindsight.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Bumrah's an X-factor for India.

When its going quite flat, he can come up with a ridiculous slower ball LBW or a 90 mph stumps shattering reverse swinging yorker out of nowhere. I cannot recall any bowler other than a select few in the history of Cricket capable of doing both of the above. He's truly a trump card and is worth his weight in gold for Indian cricket.

It would be a shame if he cannot force his will to win a white ball tournament final for India. He's had a few chances in the knockouts and hes choked in them. Pretty much going like an Akhtar like journey except the bad behaviour. Both terrific match winners but could not force their will in a white ball knock out match like Starc, Brett Lee have done.

 

[Savak]

Or...(and this is just a thought) New Zealand are better?

Bumrah's an X-factor for India.

When its going quite flat, he can come up with a ridiculous slower ball LBW or a 90 mph stumps shattering reverse swinging yorker out of nowhere. I cannot recall any bowler other than a select few in the history of Cricket capable of doing both of the above. He's truly a trump card and is worth his weight in gold for Indian cricket.

It would be a shame if he cannot force his will to win a white ball tournament final for India. He's had a few chances in the knockouts and hes choked in them. Pretty much going like an Akhtar like journey except the bad behaviour. Both terrific match winners but could not force their will in a white ball knock out match like Starc, Brett Lee have done.

Malinga was like this in his prime with his slower ball full tosses aimed at the stumps, slower ball dipping Yorkers, 90 mph plus Yorkers, bouncers but he declined once his pace deserted him and batsmen found it easier to negotiate with him.

 

[WengerOut]

Malinga was like this in his prime with his slower ball full tosses aimed at the stumps, slower ball dipping Yorkers, 90 mph plus Yorkers, bouncers but he declined once his pace deserted him and batsmen found it easier to negotiate with him.

For some reason, Malinga was not effective against Pak or India. They generally played him without any fuss.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Malinga was like this in his prime with his slower ball full tosses aimed at the stumps, slower ball dipping Yorkers, 90 mph plus Yorkers, bouncers but he declined once his pace deserted him and batsmen found it easier to negotiate with him.

Malinga did not work on his fitness much in later years. Bumrah will have to be on his toes if he wants to keep earning Millions and be fit and sharp. Enough motivation for him plus resources to get the best training.

 

[Ab Fan]

Bumrah's an X-factor for India.

<B>When its going quite flat, he can come up with a ridiculous slower ball LBW or a 90 mph stumps shattering reverse swinging yorker out of nowhere</B>. I cannot recall any bowler other than a select few in the history of Cricket capable of doing both of the above. He's truly a trump card and is worth his weight in gold for Indian cricket.

It would be a shame if he cannot force his will to win a white ball tournament final for India. He's had a few chances in the knockouts and hes choked in them. Pretty much going like an Akhtar like journey except the bad behaviour. Both terrific match winners but could not force their will in a white ball knock out match like Starc, Brett Lee have done.

Truly the most versatile bowler of his era