London, Sep 2: Shardul Thakur’s counter-attacking half-century wasn’t good enough to save the Indian batting from another embarrassment before Jasprit Bumrah’s menacing opening spell kept the visitors on an even keel against England on the opening day of the fourth Test.
At stumps, England were 53 for 3 in response to India’s 191, having lost openers Rory Burns (5) and Haseeb Hameed (0) to the extra pace and bounce generated by Bumrah. Umesh Yadav then bowled an off-cutter in his second spell to breach in-form Joe Root’s defence which helped the visitors end the day on a high note.
Justifying his tag as a bowling all-rounder, Shardul smashed 57 off 36 balls and added 63 for the eighth wicket with Umesh to take the total closer to 200.
India lasted just 61.3 overs with Cheteshwar Pujara and especially Ajinkya Rahane’s failures becoming glaring enough and couldn’t be papered over by skipper Virat Kohli, who played some gorgeous strokes en route his half-century.
Save couple of half-centuries, none of the Indian batters crossed the 20-run mark.
For England, Chris Woakes was splendid in his comeback game and no praise would be enough for the fast-rising Ollie Robinson, who bowled a couple of beauties to get rid of KL Rahul and Kohli.
Anderson bowled one of his classic “in-out” (swinging in and shaping out) delivery to send Pujara back and Rahane was Overton’s victim with Moeen Ali not even required to bowl a single over.
If promoting Jadeja was a poor call from the captain, it’s about time that his young turk Pant gets a rap on the knuckles for his distinct lack of game awareness which has been visible throughout this English summer.
When India bowled, Bumrah bowled one that had extra bounce with inward movement after pitching which Burns dragged back to his stumps.
Hameed got one on the off-stump that climbed on him as he tried to slash it but Pant took a smart catch to make it wicket No 99 for Bumrah.
However, Umesh brought joy back in the India camp with Root’s wicket in the penultimate over. (PTI)
