Team India have pulled a rabbit out of the habit once again and they are getting habituated to it. England were in a comfortable position, if not advantageous, heading in to the final day of the Test. But time and again, the bowlers have proved their might and resolve and this time was no different. The leader of the pace unit bowled a spell for the ages on the flat track to put India back in command of the game.
India sealed a 157-run victory over England in the fourth Test at The Oval. They have now taken a 2-1 lead in the series going into the final Test of the series which will be held in Manchester. Following the stellar win, captain Virat Kohli revealed Jasprit Bumrah, who proved to be decisive in securing the win on the final day, saw the reverse swing conditions and demanded the ball from the skipper.
“As soon as the ball started reversing, Bumrah said ‘give me the ball’,” said Kohli. “He bowled that spell, and swung the game in our favour with those two huge wickets. Giving 27 runs off 22 overs on this kind of pitch is a huge effort,” said Kohli in the post-match presentation.
England began the day at 77 for no loss while chasing India’s 368 to win the Test. They went into lunch at 131 for 2 still having a grasp on the match. But Jasprit Bumrah had other ideas. On a flat track that didn’t offer much to the pacers, Bumrah ran riot in his spell after lunch and sent the stumps of Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow flying.
As a result of the two dismissals, Bumrah also became the fastest Indian pacer to reach 100 Test wickets. It took him 24 Tests to get to his 100th wicket, beating the great Kapil Dev’s record of 100 Test dismissals in 25 Tests.
Virat Kohli also reached a unique milestone as captain of the Indian side. He became the first Indian skipper after Kapil Dev to win two Test matches during a series in England. In 1986, the Haryana Hurricane led India to two Test victories in England.
