On this day in 2021: India blows away England at The Oval
The fourth Test match of the India tour of England 2021 kicked off in The Oval, London on September 2. What followed in the next four days was nothing short of a cricketing spectacle as the visitors, led by Virat Kohli, scripted a famous victory. It was a clinical and all-round performance by India against a strong English side in a game that went right down to the wire.
It was not an ideal start for India on Day 1 as it as England won the toss and elected to field first on a morning that looked ideal for swing bowlers. The going was not easy for the Indian top-order batters as openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara at number three were dismissed for a struggling 11, 17 and 4 respectively.
Skipper Kohli led from the front and scored a valuable 50, which was well-complemented by No. 8 batter Shardul Thakur, who scored a quickfire 57. India were bowled out for 191 in 61.3 overs, courtesy of some top-class bowling by Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson, who bagged four and three wickets respectively.
England, in their first innings, also started off slowly with openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed departing for 5 early. They lost three more wickets in quick succession and they were reduced to 62/5 in 24.3 overs. But, late contributions from Ollie Pope and Woakes, with each scoring a fifty helped them take a lead and get to 290.
India came into their second innings with a tall order to turn the game around as they trailed by 99 runs. And the Indian top order, this time, did exactly what was expected of them stop the English barrage. Rahul, Pujara and Kohli showed a lot of promise and got good starts to their innings, scoring 46, 61 and 44 respectively. Rishabh Pant and Shardul also chipped in later on with a fifty. But, the star of the innings was Rohit, who scored 127 and helped change the course of the match in India’s favour.
India finished with 466 and set a strong target of 368. England, in their second innings, needed a good start, and it was provided by openers Burns and Hameed as both scored fifties and added 100 runs for the opening wicket. But once the first wicket fell, the Indian bowlers were rampant and forced five more wickets for only 47 runs. India finally bowled England out for 210 with only 29.4 overs of play left in the match, and Rohit was given the Player of the Match.
