For India, as this enthralling Test series against England seemed to be slipping away, something radical was required. In this latest episode of England and India’s poking and bickering and all-out fire and fury, the piping hot visitors went for the jugular, just after lunch on day two. And in doing so, they swung this contest back into an area of neutrality, once more a one-innings shootout of sorts, heading into the final three days.
It should be stated that the advantage remains in England’s corner. Not only did they register a 23-run lead after the first innings, but they can play the remainder of the match in the knowledge that a draw is as good as a win, as they look to claim their biggest Test series victory in head coach Brendon McCullum’s three-year reign. But under the dark clouds of south London on Friday, a dark cloud surprisingly descended for England’s most accomplished performer.
Joe Root is many things. A great batsman, of course. A fierce competitor, yes. But he is rarely one for explosiveness, whether it be at the crease or with his words. Even as captain, amid much hardship, his equanimity rarely wavered. But here, in the eye of a Prasidh Krishna-inspired storm, he lost his cool. A tad rattled, the strangeness of what occurred reverberated through England’s batting order, leaving India firmly in the match.
And out of nothing on day two, India clawed back something from the brink of no return. England’s quickfire stand of 129 runs for the loss of just one wicket was followed by the remaining eight wickets falling for 118, dismissed for 247. India saw out the day’s proceedings two down, stationed steadily on 75-2, with a lead of 52.
On the Oval’s “Day for Thorpey”, in memory of ex-England and Surrey batter Graham Thorpe who took his own life last summer, Root (with 73 wickets) started in the field as England’s most experienced wicket-taker, after Chris Woakes was ruled out of the match due to a dislocated elbow suffered on the boundary late on Thursday. With plenty in the crowd wearing Thorpe’s iconic headband, the hosts blitzed through India’s remaining batsmen with aplomb.
In just 28 minutes, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue stormed through an Indian tail which, not for the first time this summer, failed to muster any resistance at all. The last four wickets fell for just six runs, with Karun Nair’s sturdy innings of resistance the first to fall, dismissed leg before wicket by the ever-changing bamboozlement that is Josh Tongue bowling a cricket ball. Erratic? Pitch perfect? How about both?
With Nair gone for 57, the rest quickly followed. Washington Sundar fell into Gus Atkinson’s short-pitched trap, hooking into Jamie Overton’s hands for 26, before Mohammed Siraj and Krishna came and went without scoring. Not to matter, given their exploits to come, but for Atkinson, making his Test debut this summer after a hamstring injury, an unexpected five-wicket haul on his home ground was something to cherish.
Chasing 226, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were undaunted by the overcast conditions and swinging pitch. In something of a throwback to three years ago, when the otherworldly red-ball landscape of Bazball first landed on English shores, England’s opening partnership tore through a shellshocked Indian attack at a run rate of seven an over.
Yet in striking two exquisite scoop shots for six – shots that fellow left-hander Thorpe would have enjoyed – Duckett stoked the fire for the rest of the day. A scoop too many resulted in his exit for 43, clipping the ball behind, and Akash Deep had the final say, goading his opponent with a patronising arm around the shoulder as he left the field of play.
Words were exchanged; shots were fired. It wouldn’t be the last confrontation of the day.
Crawley brought up his fifty with 12 fours to his name, but after lunch, a swift change in momentum. The visitors altered their approach, became more animated and vocal in the field, and undoubtedly unsettled an England outfit who could see the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy on the horizon.
Skying a short ball into the air, Crawley’s dismissal for 64 (another frustrating case of the opener being unable to convert a promising start into a century) brought Root to the crease at 124-2. Customarily coolness personified, here, England’s greatest-ever Test batsman was properly wound up.
Root clashed primarily with Krishna, a bowler with whom he has shared the same dressing room at IPL outfit Rajasthan Royals. No sign of any lasting friendship here, though, as Root vociferously confronted the Indian seamer with a choice collection of words. Was it retaliation for Krishna needlessly throwing the ball at Crawley minutes earlier? Was Krishna walking across the England batsman running between the wickets? Did Root, plain and simple, nibble at a line of bait?
Either way, it all worked in India’s favour. Shortly after the umpires intervened, stand-in captain Ollie Pope was trapped lbw by Siraj – who also inevitably brought the heat in the sledging contest – before Root followed in the same fashion, unable to get bat on a quickfire ball nipping in, trudging back a defeated man for 29. Jacob Bethell, making his first Test appearance on English soil, only managed six before Siraj took his scalp too, with the youngster not even bothering to review a yorker which was nailed on for middle stump.
In an instant, India were back in the ring, on the front foot and purring. Jamie Smith, on his home ground, edged behind off Krishna for just eight, and when another Surrey player, in Jamie Overton, went for a duck, lbw to Krishna, India had not only stopped England’s runaway train but had successfully derailed it. Six wickets to the visitors made the afternoon their session.
With India only needing nine wickets due to Woakes’s injury, Harry Brook was the final line of defence. He looked on course for a half-century, including one magnificent sweep for six, before the rain sprinkled down just after Atkinson hooked disconnectedly to the fielder at mid-on.
With just one wicket remaining, from such a position of strength, England’s advantage was next to nothing.
Brook went on to claim his half-century after a 42-minute delay, before he dragged on to his stumps off the bowling of Siraj for 53. India, with a stride in their step, entered the dressing room buoyed by their afternoon’s work, with England’s lead just 23 runs.
As the sun then came out over Kennington to conclude proceedings, India’s openers put on a stand of 46 before Tongue removed KL Rahul, who edged to Root at first slip. Back in his element, taking a catch down low to his left, the tetchiness of hours earlier was long gone.
Substitute fielder Liam Dawson dropped Yashasvi Jaiswal on 40 in the closing overs, a gaping chance squandered at fine leg, before Atkinson had the final say as he trapped Sai Sudharsan leg before wicket. Shortly after, the teams left the field for bad light at 7.17pm.
The tone has been set, in a match still tantalisingly in the balance, ahead of crunch time on day three.
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