First came bad light, then a burst of rain, and with it the penultimate day of this epic Test series ended with the ultimate cliffhanger overnight.<\/p>\n
England had seemingly been cruising to their target of 374 and a 3\u20111 series victory, driven by sparkling centuries from Harry Brook and Joe Root. But India roared back after tea to leave the hosts six wickets down, still 35 runs short, when the players and umpires walked off to a chorus of jeers.<\/p>\n
So despite looking like a memorable fourth day would bring \u00adfinality to the contest, the deciding fifth Test now heads into a fifth day with \u00adevery\u00adthing still on the line. England will resume in the morning hoping that Jamie Smith, last of the top seven, guides them home after a night\u2019s rest and Chris Woakes, his dislocated left shoulder still in a sling, is not required to\u00a0bat.<\/p>\n
India can still level the series at 2-2 \u2013 a share of the Anderson\u2011Tendulkar Trophy \u2013 and, having \u00adfloundered slightly during a 195-run fifth\u2011wicket stand between Brook and Root, they had perhaps cause to feel most aggrieved when proceedings were paused at 5.30pm. The force was very much with the tourists at this\u00a0stage; England were scrapping for their\u00a0lives.<\/p>\n
Brook\u2019s thrilling 10th Test century had been terminated on 111 from 98 balls before tea \u2013 bat flying out of his hand when top-edging Akash Deep into the ring \u2013 while Jacob Bethell lost his middle stump for five trying to break free from the shackles. But it was Root\u2019s removal for 105 to an edge off Prasidh Krishna that truly set alarm bells ringing among the home\u00a0support.<\/p>\n
It had been coming, in fairness, with the old ball belatedly \u00adstarting to move for India\u2019s quicks and \u00adforcing a succession of lbw appeals.<\/p>\n
From 337 for six, Smith and Jamie Overton continued the theme, \u00adplaying out 20 balls of paralysis in which they either beat the bat or squirted off the inside edge. Just two singles were added and both were cheered like \u00adboundaries.<\/p>\n
Most galling of all was that 30 minutes after play was called off at 6pm, the Oval was drenched in sunshine and the last remaining \u00adspectators were shouting words like \u201cdisgrace\u201d. If nothing else, the overnight pause handed Smith and the tail time to reset, even if this also meant they would be facing a refreshed Indian attack with the second new ball just 3.4 overs away.<\/p>\n
Harry Brook (left) and Joe Root shared a 195-run fifth-wicket stand at the Kia Oval. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
While the verbals that have been traded regularly during this series died down after a chirpy start, the battle out in the middle was no less intense, and not least during India\u2019s late surge. Krishna and \u00adMohammed Siraj whipped up the Tamasha, with the latter somehow still hitting 87mph on the speed gun in his fifth successive Test. What a cricketer.<\/p>\n
Up to that point it had chiefly been about the audacity of Brook, plus the 39th entry into Root\u2019s catalogue of Test centuries. Hitting 14 fours and two sixes overall \u2013 one of which we will get to \u2013 Brook initially burst out of the traps.<\/p>\n
But he then smartly started to roll his wrists on his pull shots when Shubman Gill spread the field to all corners. Control, precision and typical brute strength placed this 91-ball century among his very best.<\/p>\n
Root, by contrast, was scratchy at first and fortunate to survive a tight lbw shout from Krishna on three in\u00a0which he was saved by umpire\u2019s call. Soon enough, though, he was in\u00a0his groove, smiling at his opponents after some rare snarl on day two and caressing 12 gorgeous fours. Since Bazball began in 2022, the 34\u2011year\u2011old averages a remarkable 82 in the fourth innings.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n There was little doubt as to the moment that changed the day though; a moment that Siraj, much like Trent Boult after the 2019 World\u00a0Cup final, will replay in his mind over and again should India go on to lose. In a sport that has disappointment baked into it, holding a catch in the deep but carrying the ball over the boundary for six must rank among the worst feelings.<\/p>\n Brook was on 19 at the time, \u00adEngland 137 for three, when he hooked Krishna from outside off and sent a high catch to long leg. Siraj \u00adsnaffled it but planted his heel on the rope simultaneously, before \u00adstumbling over completely in full knowledge of the error. A \u00adnumber of India\u2019s \u00adplayers were already \u00adcelebrating, only to spot Siraj with his head in his\u00a0hands.<\/p>\n India had enjoyed a positive start to the day too, even if there were signs of the pitch having lost some of its seam movement. The \u00addangerous Ben\u00a0Duckett had edged a smart full ball from Krishna behind on 54, while Ollie Pope fell lbw for 27 to a ball that\u00a0nipped back from Siraj. It \u00adcompleted what has become his standard one century, 30-something average series for Pope.<\/p>\n Brook\u2019s reprieve changed the mood of a morning in which \u00adEngland reached lunch on 164 for three, before he and Root then dominated the afternoon.<\/p>\n Expect the fired up and indefatigable Siraj to come charging in on Monday morning, desperate to ensure his footfault becomes a mere footnote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First came bad light, then a burst of rain, and with it the penultimate day of this epic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-316131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114968289794976171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}