Kolkata: The wheels seemed to be coming off when Akash Deep tried stopping Harry Brook’s drive with his feet and ended up kicking into the ropes for a four. A ball later, Brook raced to a hundred that should have been curtailed at 19 but for Mohammed Siraj stepping on the ropes after catching him at long leg.
Tired legs and tired minds translated to a tired defence of 373. Unimaginative as well, considering spin was held back till the 43rd over, and when it did come into effect there were no close-in fielders to press home the message that India meant business.
Brook had scented blood by then. He smashed a 91-ball hundred, his 10th in Tests, added a swift 195 for the fourth wicket with Joe Root, who then scored his 39th Test hundred and was all set for glory. Till Jacob Bethel chopped Prasidh Krishna onto his stumps.
Two overs later, Root was sent back by Krishna, this time by a back of the length ball that he tried to steer on his back foot but ended up guiding to the outstretched hands of Dhruv Jurel. England were coasting but India were still not ready to throw in the towel. That and the timely intervention of the fickle English weather meant the fifth and final Test at the Oval would head to a fifth day with the hosts needing 35 runs and India four wickets.
Not three as anticipated because even though Chris Woakes was seen walking around in a shoulder sling, there have been suggestions that he might just do a Malcolm Marshall and bat one-handed should things come to a head for England.
It certainly didn’t seem so during the post-lunch session when England added 153 runs at well over five runs per over but such has been the cyclical nature of this riveting Test series that India had to bounce back at some time. When they did, runs dried up for England. In the brief post-tea session, England faced 10.2 overs, lost two wickets and scored only 22.
At stumps, Jamie Overton — he has a Test fifty and a first-class hundred — and Jamie Smith, who has already scored a hundred this series, at Birmingham, together. And even though 35 runs may not look much on the board considering this England team is used to overhauling big scores, India will be well rested Monday morning and the second new ball will be due in 22 balls.
An hour of cricket and who knows how this Test might transpire if India catch an early break or two. It might be too much to expect with too little to defend but miracles have been conjured in the past with fewer runs in the bank.
That said, India can’t be absolved of the way they lost the plot despite getting two early wickets. The start was as usual promising with Siraj, the only fast bowler from either side to play all the five Tests of the series, bowling probing lines. So meticulously was he getting the ball to leave Ben Duckett, clearly England’s most dangerous batter in this series, from over the wicket that his dismissal was waiting to happen. That came when Prasidh got Duckett to poke the ball to KL Rahul at slip. Ollie Pope is always a nervous starter but the boundaries he got early into his innings suggested that he was probably primed to play a captain’s knock this time.
Siraj dashed that hope with a wobble-seam delivery that pitched on good length and nipped in to trap Pope leg-before. Pope reviewed it but Hawk-Eye suggested it was hitting middle of middle, giving Siraj his 20th wicket of the series and sending him clear of the rest of the pack. In came Brook and then came that dropped catch. Fortune favours the brave though. And Brook was valiant this time, gearing up to a pace of scoring so maverick that it started toying with India’s psyche.
The same over he was dropped, Brook scored two more boundaries to rub salt in Prasidh’s wounds. A desperate slash flew through slip and gully for a streaky boundary but Brook didn’t care as he raced fifty off 39 balls. Wary of his batting approach, Shubman Gill started spreading the field, prompting Brook to drop the ball close and start taking easy singles. If anything was too short, Brook would pick the midwicket area, but otherwise England’s scoreboard kept ticking because of the singles and twos conceded by a hapless India.
Root was the ideal anchor during this time, playing chanceless cricket, milking the gaps and taking the occasional boundaries. The 100-run partnership came in 108 balls before Root got to his fifty in 81 balls. Akash Deep was a dud with the old ball, allowing Root to slowly accelerate. Once Brook was dismissed, he took over, hit consecutive boundaries to reach 98 before tucking Akash towards long leg for two runs and completing a memorable hundred in front of his family. It should have been smooth sailing for England from there. But India still had one last fight left in them for the day.
