ENG vs IND | Oval Test, Day 1: Umesh Yadav gets Root to make it even-steven day

Just when Joe Root appeared to be taking another game out of India’s grapes, Umesh Yadav came back in his second spell and breached England captain’s defence to give India a massive boost. 

Root was up and running once again with a flurry of boundaries but India would be going off a bit relieved after seeing the back of their tormentor in chief Root on the first day.

Leading India’s reply with the new ball, Jasprit Burmah was up and running straight away with the wickets of Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns in the same over. He was on the money and would be looking to stay that way against England skipper Joe Root, who has been in form of his life in the series so far.

Reaffirming his batting credentials, Shardul Thakur smashed a rapid fifty of just 31 balls to put England in bit of bother. He smashed Ollie Robinson for an enormous six over square leg and offered a salute to the dressing room possibly for giving him a chance in an all-important game.

Rishabh Pant tried to attack his way out of the trouble but as has been in the series so far, the tactic did not work and Woakes got him caught at mid-off, to sum up, India’s shambolic performance on the first day at The Oval.

Craig Overton enticed an outside edge of Ajinkya Rahane’s bat and Moeen Ali grabbed a low catch at third slip to send India’s vice-captain back to the pavilion. India found themselves in a massive spot of bother after the departure of both Kohli and Rahane in quick succession.

The batting issues that plagued them at Headingley came back to haunt them at The Oval albeit there were genuine wicket-taking balls from England pacers and not poor strokes from Indian batsmen. However, poor technique and application on the part of Indian batsmen can’t be overlooked after repetitive failure in seaming conditions.

Virat Kohli battled hard and played some crisp drives to get to his fifty but could not convert it into a substantial score to propel India. Robinson got the better of him and the things were not too better for the hosts at The Oval after the horror show at Headingley.

Woakes ended the experiment of sending Jadeja at number five in place of Rahane with a classical right arm pacer delivery angling across the left-hander. 

England skipper Root handed his counterpart a big reprieve when he spilt an easy chance at the first slip off the bowling of Chris Woakes. Indian skipper looked solid in the first session but Woakes’ accuracy kept on asking tough questions of him, but Root could not latch on to the big opportunity.

India finished the first session at 54/3 as England bowlers removed the first three Indian batsmen from their way. The hosts would have been pleased with the fall of Rohit who got a jaffa from Woakes while the wickets of Rahul, who was found rooted inside the crease, and Pujara, who was guilty of following the ball outside the off-stump would hurt.

Virat Kohli has looked good so far and has hit some crisp drives down the ground, and India will hope he will break the shackles of lack of big scores in the series.

In a very surprising move, India promoted Ravindra Jadeja to number five in the batting order, shifting Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant to number six and seven respectively.

Before Jadeja’s surprise entry into the middle, James Anderson made up for a rather inaccurate start with a beauty to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara.

After building up pressure from both sides along with Chris Woakes, Olle Robinson struck KL Rahul on his pads and the umpire Richard Illingworth found his LBW out. 

Rahul was aghast at the dismissal as he was aware of England’s tactic against them and still fell to it after seeing off the new ball spell of James Anderson.

The fall of Rahul brought Pujara and Virat Kohli together at the crease and the trio will have to do the bulk of the scoring if India have to present a formidable score in this Test.

Chris Woakes removed Rohit Sharma with a beauty that seamed and bounced a bit more than the batsman expected in his first over on comeback. Before Rohit’s fall, Indian openers were batting with caution and also put bad balls away in the first half an hour of the game.

India’s skipper Virat Kohli came back to the way of losing toss after a win at Headingley and England skipper Joe Root decided to bowl first on an overcast morning at the Oval.

As expected, both sides made multiple changes in their playing XI from the last game. England brought back Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes, while Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav replaced Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami respectively. India did not find a place for Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth time in a row in the series and Kohli once again has taken a big call of overlooking “one of the best bowlers” in the eyes of the bowling coach Bharat Arun.

The challenge for Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma will be a lot tougher with the addition of Woakes in the England bowling attack. The duo of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson was already wreaking havoc and the consistency of Woakes will make their life a lot tougher after a horrendous show at Headingley last week.