A brilliant rearguard effort from Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow kept the fourth Test match, at The Oval, evenly poised. At one point, it seemed India would gaining an upper hand in the game, but an 89-run stand between Pope and Bairstow, followed by Chris Woakes’ fifty, helped England finish on 290 and acquire a lead of 99 runs.
Rohit Sharma (20*) and K.L. Rahul (22*) were then helped by some uninspiring bowling as India walked into the day at 42 without any loss. The pitch is not as lively as it was a day ago, and batters will find it easy once they get their eyes in.
Umesh Yadav started off the proceedings exactly where he left a day ago. He set the tone by getting rid of Craig Overton, the nightwatchman, early in the day. Dawid Malan, who came as an assuring presence, ended up edging one to slip cordon, where Rohit Sharma dived to his right to grab the catch. England were reduced to 62/5.
But the intensity disappeared from the Indian attack. Umesh stopped posing any threat, Jasprit Bumrah was taken off, and Mohammed Siraj struggled to find his line and length.
Bairstow and Pope unfurled a range of strokes. England smashed seven boundaries in the space of 12 balls at one point. Shardul Thakur conceded three – and four leg-byes – to Pope, while Bairstow took three more off Siraj.
But Siraj had the last laugh, as he pinned Bairstow lbw to send him upstairs on 37. Moeen Ali got a 71-ball 35 with seven boundaries. The Indians seemed clueless, and the new ball seemed to be the only hope, until Moeen holed to mid off, off Ravindra Jadeja.
Pope (81) was in fine touch and he was well on his way to hundreds when Thakur got him with a ball outside off that he chopped on to the stumps. But Woakes compounded the Indians’ misery with a fluent half-century. He hit 11 fours before he got run out.
For India, Umesh picked up three wickets, and Jasprit Bumrah and Jadeja two each.
Brief scores: India 191 (Shardul Thakur 50; Chris Woakes 4-45) and 43/0 (K.L. Rahul 22*) trail England 290 (Ollie Pope 81; Umesh Yadav 3-76) by 56 runs.