India vs England | Oval Test and series poised for a keen finish

London: The Moving Day of the concluding Test accelerated at breakneck speed with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar all stepping on the accelerator in brutal fashion as India took a good lead in their quest to post a series-levelling win against a bungling England here on Saturday.

Leading a charmed life after being dropped four times by butter-fingered England — they grassed a total of six catches — Jaiswal set the tempo for a day of domination along with nightwatchman Akash Deep with a superb 107-run stand for the third wicket. While the fortuitous Jaiswal scored a counter-attacking 118 off 164 balls, his overnight partner Akash cracked a career-best 66 off 94 balls to put beleaguered England instantly on the back foot.

Then Manchester Test heroes Jadeja and Sundar played game-changing innings for a second successive game, the former stabilising a mid-innings collapse with a gritty 53 off 77 balls before the latter unleashed the rarely seen power-hitting side of his, smashing a scorching 53 off 46 balls to power India to 396 all out — setting England a competitive target of 374 runs. India had about an hour and a half to bowl at England and the hosts weathered several tense moments to take stumps at 50/1, Mohammed Siraj grabbing the wicket of Zak Crawley off the penultimate ball to set the stage for a Super Sunday.

For the first time in three days, conditions here at The Oval didn’t look heavily skewed in favour of the bowlers. The pitch wore a more brownish appearance after two days of intense activity and the sun also made its way in the morning. However, there was still enough juice in it for the pacers to land the punches despite the absence of grass that was present generously on the opening two days. That’s where England, missing lead pacer Chris Woakes who injured his left shoulder while fielding on the opening day, erred, and Jaiswal and Akash made the utmost use of it.

The trio of Gus Atkinson (3/127), Josh Tongue (5/125) and Jamie Overton (2/98) faltered in their lines and lengths, and Jaiswal and Akash cashed in on it to lay a strong foundation. When the pacers bowled too full at the start of the day, Jaiswal and Akash were quick to play those drives without fear to instantly put England on the back foot. England changed their tactic to short-pitched bowling in the second hour, and Jaiswal and Akash were up for that challenge too, cutting, pulling, and hooking with utter disdain as runs came in a rush. With every run the duo scored, especially Akash, and every minute the bowler ate up, England’s palpitations grew.

This series, every time the momentum has swung one way, the pendulum hits an end and swings back the other way. That’s what happened with two quick strikes in and around lunch. Before the meal, Akash departed while skipper Gill, who has been in imperious form this series, perished first ball after the break. England, despite their average effort on the field, were all pumped up at that stage. They stifled new man Karun Nair and Jaiswal, hoping to make further inroads and seize the initiative. Such was the pressure they built up, Jaiswal even had some words to say to Nair while closing in on a hundred. And it paid off as India lost Nair, Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel to leave the game evenly poised.

Like has been the script so far in this exhilaratingly fought series, Jadeja and Sundar breathed fresh life into India’s innings. First, Jadeja did his usual thing, mixing caution with aggression and going on to get his fifth half-century of this series and take his series tally to a whopping 516 runs. Then came the carnage from Sundar as wickets kept tumbling. He smashed four boundaries and four sixes to give India a platform to push for a victory.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA (I Innings): 224

ENGLAND (I Innings): 247

INDIA (II Innings, O/n: 75/2):

Jaiswal c Overton b Tongue 118

(164b, 12x4, 2x6)

Rahul c Root b Tongue 7

(28b, 1x4)

Sudharsan lbw Atkinson 11

(29b, 1x4)

Akash c Atkinson b Overton 66

(94b, 12x4)

Gill lbw Atkinson 11

(9b, 2x4)

Nair c Smith b Atkinson 17

(32b, 3x4)

Jadeja c Brook b Tongue 53

(77b, 5x4)

Jurel lbw Overton 34

(46b, 4x4)

Sundar c Crawley b Tongue 53

(46b, 4x4, 4x6)

Siraj lbw Tongue 0

(3b)

Prasidh (not out) 0

(2b)

Extras (B-13, LB-5, NB-2, W-6) 26

TOTAL (all out, 88 overs) 396

Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Rahul), 2-70 (Sudharsan), 3-177 (Akash), 4-189 (Gill), 5-229 (Nair), 6-273 (Jaiswal), 7-323 (Jurel), 8-357 (Jadeja), 9-357 (Siraj).

Bowling: Atkinson 27-3-127-3 (nb-2), Tongue 30-4-125-5 (w-3), Overton 22-2-98-2 (w-2), Bethell 4-0-13-0, Root 5-1-8-0.

ENGLAND (II Innings):

Crawley b Crawley 14

(36b, 2x4)

Duckett (batting) 34

(48b, 4x4)

Extras (LB-1, NB-1) 2

TOTAL (for 1 wkt, 13.5 overs) 50

Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Crawley).

Bowling: Akash 5-1-15-0 (nb-1), Prasidh 5-1-23-0, Siraj 3.5-0-11-1.