India allowed Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes to earn a substantial 99-run first innings lead for England on day two of the fourth Test at the Oval, leaving their star-studded batting line-up to rise to the occasion in the second essay after a string of indifferent performances.
In the absence of Mohammed Shami, the Indian pace attack did not seem potent enough on the day and was unable to put sustained pressure on the batsmen.
From a precarious 62 for five, England staged a remarkable recovery to score 290 on a pitch getting better for batting with each session.
But despite losing the initiative, India are still in the match after restricting the English lead to less than 100.
The men responsible for giving England the upper hand in the game were Ollie Pope (81 off 159) and Chris Woakes (50 off 60) whose attacking innings in the final session could well prove to be the difference in the match.
India batting, which has let the team down often in overseas conditions and also in the series so far, will have to find a way to score at least 300 plus in the second innings.
The openers Rohit Sharma (20 batting) and K L Rahul (22 batting) made a promising start, taking India to 43 for no loss in 16 overs at stumps on day two. They still trail England by 56 runs.
Rohit got a life on 6 when Rory Burns failed to sight a regulation catch at second slip.
Considering the batting friendly conditions at The Oval, the batsmen, especially the struggling middle-order, will be expected to deliver and keep India in the game.
India’s third and fourth choice pacers — especially Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur, were not able to maintain pressure put by Umesh Yadav (3/76) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/67) early in the England innings.
Ravindra Jadeja played his role well, taking two wickets and keeping things tight from his end.
England were bowled out after tea with Woakes getting run out after a destructive knock comprising 11 fours.
The pitch played true allowing the England batsmen to hit on the up.
Pope, playing his first match of the series, showed an attractive range of strokes including on the up straight drives and cover drives.
In the morning session, Umesh struck twice in the first hour of play before a counter-attacking stand between Bairstow and Pope took England to 139 for five at lunch. England scored 86 runs in the 25-over session.
Umesh, perennially in and out of the playing eleven and featuring in his first Test in nine months, was impressive in his opening spell and got his 150th Test wicket in his first over of the day after nightwatchman Craig Overton slashed one hard only to edge it to Virat Kohli at first slip.
Jarvo69 arrested
YouTuber Daniel Jarvis, who has gained notoriety for breaching security at will during the ongoing India versus England series, was on Friday arrested by the South London Police after he entered the Oval arena during the pre-lunch session on the second day of the fourth Test.
Jarvis, who goes by the name ‘Jarvo69’, has been constantly impersonating as India cricketer and on Friday was the third time in three games that he took the advantage of the poor security arrangement by the ECB.
It is learnt that he has been arrested on suspicions of assault as he barged into English batsman Jonny Bairstow during the day.
After trying to set field at Lord’s and taking stance at Leeds, Jarvo was seen sprinting just when Umesh Yadav was on top of his bowling mark. He did collide with the non-striker Jonny Bairstow.