England’s Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns leave the field at stumps on day 4 of the Insurance Test match between England and India at Kia Oval on 4th LV=05 September
England’s under-fire opening pair made a confident start after the indomitable Shadul Thakur and calm Rishabh Pant ensured a 367-run lead for India as the fourth Test entered an entertaining home stretch.
Haseeb Hameed (43 batting, 85 balls) and Rory Burns (31 batting, 109 balls) shared a 77-run partnership in 32 overs. 107 balls) helped India post a commendable score of 466 in their second essay.
With 291 runs off the required 368 target on the final day, England would look to at least imagine a draw if not a win on the fifth day as the pitch has nothing for the bowlers.
more so, Ravindra Jadeja (0/28 in 13 overs), whose primary skills have been overlooked by the team management, looked to be pedestrian during the overs bowled during the final evening. A few balls took turns but Burns tackled them with ease.
Was the only bowler to make some impact Jasprit Bumrah (7-3-11-0), who at least tried to put some pressure on the openers.
However, India were still ahead in the game due to the performance of the lower middle order, where the Thakur batsman surpassed everyone’s expectations with his second half-century in the match.
He was well complemented by Pant, who in the end had a few runs under his belt, showing admirable restraint and sense of responsibility during the duo’s 100-run stand.
credit should also go Umesh Yadav (25) and Jasprit Bumrah (24), who also played their part in taking the target past 350.
Had Thakur-Pant not played their part, England would have ended up chasing a low score after another all-known middle-order collapse.
Within 10 overs of space, it became 312 for 6, from 296 for 3 before Thakur and Pant joined forces.
It helped that as the day progressed, the pitch became flat and in the hot sun, strokeplay became easier for both the batsmen as they could hit through the line.
While Shardul, who has been called ‘beefy’ by the team’s head coach Ravi Shastri for his exploits like Ian Botham, is cementing his value as a bowling all-rounder.
His three straight drives were as good as his illustrious seniors Rohit Sharma And Cheteshwar Pujara Killed on the third day.
It was worth watching as he picked up Ollie Robinson (32-7-105-2) early on slow and sent it over long-on to reach 49 and then a pull shot for a single helped him complete his half-century. helped in
If Shardul’s 57 in the first innings helped the team reach a respectable total, his approach in the second innings ensured that Pant was not in his “harkiri” mode, which led to his downfall during several occasions this summer. caused.
The left-hander curbed his tendency to charge the track and played each delivery according to merit.
only when he was in his 30s that he got high Moeen Ali James Anderson (33-10-79-1) for a bounce four to slash over cover for a boundary and in his charge-out of 40.
He had 76 dot balls in his innings, which shows that he had learned from his mistakes, but he failed to gain height when he failed to gain height, offering a return catch to Moeen (26-0-118-2). were distraught.
In the first session of the day, Virat Kohli (44, 96 balls) showed promise with his cover drive but a beautiful slider from Moeen saw his back as his forward defensive found the outside edge in the hands of the slips.
But in the midst of a good batting performance, the vice-captain lost his thumb. Ajinkya RahaneAnother failure in the best batting conditions in the series so far.
After escaping from a strong leg before appealing courtesy of DRS, Rahane played off a straight delivery from Chris Woakes (30-8-72-2) and at the other end his captain asked him not to review.
With yet another failure, the 78-Test veteran is slowly destabilizing his place in the playing XI
.