London: India bounced back from the Headingley debacle with a thumping 157-run win against England in the fourth Test at The Oval to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Having been bowled out for a moderate 191 on the opening day, Team India did well to turn the match around in their favour.
Virat Kohli’s pacers first restricted England’s lead to 99 runs, before piling up a mammoth 466 in their second innings, thanks to a Rohit Sharma century and fifties by Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur and Rishabh Pant.
Chasing an improbable 368 for victory, England made a sound start with openers Rory Burns (50) and Haseeb Hameed (63) putting on 100 runs. When England reached 120/1 with half an hour to go for lunch on the on the final day, it seemed as if the home team had a chance of managing a draw.
But Dawid Malan’s run out before lunch gave India the chance to go all out.
Kohli’s bowlers were all fired up in the second session as Umesh Yadav (3/60), Ravindra Jadeja (2/50), Jasprit Bumrah (2/27) and Shardul (2/22) all chipped in to push England to the brink.
The prolific Joe Root made 36 before playing on to Shardul, before the middle-order caved in without a fight. Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali managed 2 runs among them as six wickets fell between lunch and tea.
England were eventually bowled out in their second innings for 210, as they lost 9 wickets for 90 runs.
India had several performers to thank for the brilliant win, but none more so than Rohit and all-rounder Shardul, who scored 57 and 60 besides capturing 4 wickets.
The final Test starts at Old Trafford in Manchester on September 10. A draw will be good enough for India to claim the series.
Scores: India 191 & 466. England 290 & 210.
Result: India won by 157 runs.
