Two mega assaults from tailenders Akash Deep and Washington Sundar brought India closer to a series-levelling victory at The Oval on Saturday, August 2. Nearly a month after Shubman Gill’s complaints about the tail’s low output with bat, the Indian bowling attack stood up and launched an exceptional assault of unprecedented proportions on the English team.
Only July 1, newly appointed India captain Shubman Gill had called for more responsibility from the Indian batting order, stating that the Indian tailenders weren’t as good in terms of batting output as some other teams. The Indian tail perhaps took offence to that statement and steadily worked to increase their batting output, the epitome of which was seen on Day 3 of the 5th Test match.
Two assaults on either ends of the day left England gasping for breath in the Test match. Already reduced in terms of bowling prowess due to the injury to Chris Woakes, a tired English bowling line-up were put on the backfoot by a Bazballing Indian team. The side got the taste of their own medicine with Akash Deep and Washington Sundar raking up rapid fifties.
Akash Deep, the nightwatchman sent to protect Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill (demoted to No.5), slammed 66 off 94 balls, his maiden fifty in international cricket. The fast bowler not only survived a tricky morning session where the ball seamed wildly, he hit 12 boundaries en route to his 66-run innings, leaving the English dressing room baffled.
Akash Deep, at one point of time was outscoring Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first session of the day. The assault was so heavy that England captain Ollie Pope had to go back to the dressing room twice, to revisit the plans set by the England management. England were let down by their poor catching in the slips, with Zak Crawley dropping Akash Deep when he was batting on 21.
The pacer’s aggressive shots took focus away from Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was carefully able to construct his innings. With the limelight completely on the pacer, Jaiswal brought himself closer to a century, step by step in the first session.
England briefly got the hold of the match by dismissing Akash Deep, Shubman Gill and Karun Nair in quick succession. After dismissing Akash Deep late in the morning session, England were able to hit back with the wickets of Shubman and Karun right after lunch, making a mini comeback in the game.
Shubman, once again exposed his old weakness against the incoming delivery, getting rapped on the pads, first ball after lunch. The India skipper had to take a long walk back to the dressing room, finishing the series with 754 runs to his name. While the India captain failed on the day, his exploits in the series will be remembered by the younger generations for times to come.
Shubman’s wicket nearly forced India into a scenario of mini-panic, much like the recent Test matches where India were prone to losing a bunch of wickets in quick succession. The incoming batter – Karun Nair – did not look comfortable at all. He was hit on the finger by Gus Atkinson, on the very first delivery he faced. From there on, Nair looked extremely uncomfortable in his 32-ball stay.
Nair looked like a shadow of the promise he brought in, when he made his comeback to the series. And after this performance at The Oval, it is likely that India move on from the batter.
Nair’s jitteriness affected Jaiswal’s performance as well, as the batter hurled some stern words towards his partner, for failing to respond correctly to calls and fielding changes made by the English team.
Despite the distractions, the young left hander was able to score his hundred, his 4th in overseas conditions. He was undone in the 65th over of the match, while trying to uppercut Joshua Tongue, where he ended up handing a simple catch to Jamie Overton. Jaiswal had been dropped thrice in the innings before this, and his quota of luck ended by the second session of the day.
More to follow…
– Ends
