The highest compliments for Jasprit Bumrah’s dream spell post Lunch on the final day were paid by his fast-bowling colleagues Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav. When viewed in isolation, they bowled good follow-up overs, but weren’t able to hold their own against Joe Root and Chris Woakes who had immense pressure during batting.
It showed that The Oval pitch hadn’t changed much since Lunch time; India needed their pace bowling spearhead to conjure magic through the air so he could produce a spell reading 6/3/6/2 which was what eventually led them towards victory with an outcome of 157 runs.
India seized control of the match during a session after lunch, taking 6 for 62 and blowing England’s hopes. Ravindra Jadeja was one key figure in this run, starting with getting Haseeb Hameed out before adding Moeen Ali to his list of victims as England lost 4 for 19 from a position of relative comfort.
In that spirit of positivity, both openers got fifties – but then India struck back hard by removing them cheaply while they were batting together – which pushed goals further away from being achieved by their team-mates who followed suit soon enough losing wickets at regular intervals putting them on the ropes.
After surviving a delivery that spun viciously out of the rough, Hameed called Malan for a non-existent single to Jadeja who bowled him from the rough with another turner. First innings half centurion Ollie Pope started off well before being dismissed when he got an inside edge onto his pad trying to play it down leg side by Yadav’s effortless incoming ball changeover after bowling over three dry deliveries on middle stump line which was followed up by two more in quick succession outside off and one wide scoot across lureingly away from the right handed batsman making sure there wasn’t any room left for adjustment or escape route.
Pope managed only seven runs between lunch and tea adding just five more in almost four hours.