Skipper Shubman Gill’s suicidal run-out, poor shot selection and rain interruptions leave visitors unsettled on a tricky green surface in series-decider against England
India captain Shubman Gill is run out by England’s Gus Atkinson at the Oval, London, on Thursday. Pic/PTI
Chris Woakes apart, England were compelled to field an all-new bowling attack for the final Test at The Oval. The original and the replacements proved more than up to the task on a stop-start Day One on Thursday, working through the Indian top order with no little help from the opposition skipper.
Shubman Gill called wrong for the fifth Test in a row and Ollie Pope, standing in for the injured Ben Stokes, had an easy decision to make — stick the opposition in. It’s a method England prefer because they like chasing in the fourth innings, but this time, their call was influenced not just by the heavy cloud crowd, but a generous coating of live grass that was bound to bring seam into play. At the time of going to press, India were 153-6.
Pacer Bumrah rested
England had announced their four changes the day before the game; India matched them by resting Jasprit Bumrah, and leaving out Anshul Kamboj and Shardul Thakur, bringing back Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Karun Nair; Dhruv Jurel for the out-of-commission Rishabh Pant was an open secret.
England players celebrate the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja on Thursday. Pic/Bipin Patel
Never did India need a solid start from Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul more than in these conditions, but Gus Atkinson, one of the England replacements, had other ideas, packing off the former on view in the fourth over of the game with a ball that slanted in from round the stumps and beat the batter on the inside edge. It was the third time in four innings that the left-hander had been dismissed for single-digit scores.
Rahul was typically patient, correct and unflustered; Sai Sudharsan offered excellent support and slowly, the second-wicket pair redressed the damage when, out of the blue, Rahul played an ambitious cut to Woakes and chopped the ball on to his stumps, not the first time he has been dismissed in this fashion in this series. It was a big blow considering the felicity the opener has shown all series, but Sudharsan and Gill then put on a handy partnership of 45 either side of a long break for rain.
Gill’s error
Just when they appeared primed to kick on, Gill contrived to run himself out. Playing Atkinson towards silly mid-off, he went looking for a non-existent single, only to be sent back by his partner. Gill slipped as he tried to turn, but even otherwise, he stood no chance with the big quick rapidly swooping on the ball and scoring a direct hit. It was a terrible end to a promising innings during which Gill went past Sunil Gavaskar’s mark of 732 for the most
runs by an Indian captain in a series.
Pacer Josh Tongue claimed the wickets of Sai Sudharsan (38) and last-match centurion Ravindra Jadeja (nine).
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
