The decisive fifth test match was dramatically poised as India, trailingh 2-1 was in a strongt position to squaring the Tendulkar-Anderson Test Series following a brilliant century by Yashasvi Jaiswal for his sixth, followed by Washington Sundar a final sparkle 4-sixer spree and equal number of boundary charge in a 43-ball 53 in setting England a daunting 374 for an improbable victory as the hosts ended the penultimate day on 50 for 1 wicket and needing a further 324 runs for a 3-1 series triumph in what would be the second-biggest chase in their history yesterday at the London Oval.
England could well be one batter less if the injured Chris Woakes from a shoulder impediment would be fit to bat in a showdown that the Indians have gallantly braved the odds to putting themselves on course to staging a truly magnificent series squaring gun ho thanks mainly to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s great century for his second of the series and as much Akash Deep, the nightwatcher whose maiden Test fifty wore England’s seamers down and Ravindra Jadeja, who passed 500 runs for the series; and Washington Sundar’s kate blitz in raising the target from 335 to 374 inside five overs.
Starting the final day with the loss of Zak Crawley from the penultimate delivery of day three tipped the balance further towards India ending with a 2-2 draw.
If they do, they will have won the two Tests Bumrah has missed. They have managed their resources better than England.
The home side can point to their depleted stock of fast bowlers. Mark Wood and Olly Stone have missed the entire Test summer, young back-ups like Josh Hull and Sonny Baker have had stop-start seasons.
Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer endured the bowlers’ graveyard in the fourth Test at Old Trafford. Hindsight is glorious and, a week on, suggests it would have been wiser to save one of them for The Oval. England were going for the win that would have sealed the series and did not get it. Had they caught Ravindra Jadeja on the final day, it may have been a different story. Drops have become a recurring theme.
Tongue took five-wickets to ending ss England’s leading wicket-taker in the series, despite only playing three Tests.