IND vs ENG – Heroes of Oval Test: From Rohit Sharma to Shardul Thakur, four heroic performances by Indians in Oval Test – Rohit Sharma’s century in the second innings followed by Shardul Thakur’s brilliance with the bat and with the ball helped Team India clinch a win at Oval after 50 years in Test cricket. The last time when India claimed a win at Kennington Oval, London was in 1971 under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. After winning the fourth Test, India are now leading 2-1 in the five-match Test series.
IND vs ENG: From Rohit Sharma to Shardul Thakur, four heroic performances by Indians in Oval Test
IND vs ENG – Heroes of Oval Test: It was a clinical performance by visitors as captain Virat Kohli and Shardul Thakur scored fifties in the first innings to help their side post a respectable total. Followed by an incredible performance by Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Rohit Sharma made sure that India does not repat poor performance from the first innings and scored a magnificent century – His first in Overseas Test. He stitched a partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara then Rishabh Pant along with Shardul Thakur gave India the much-needed finish to take help India post a huge total against England to chase in the fourth innings. And in the end, Jasprit Bumrah along with Ravindra Jadeja did the trick with the ball.
IND vs ENG – Heroes of Oval Test: Shardul Thakur
England asked India to bat first in the fourth Test and riding on beautiful bowling performances by Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson India were reduced to 117-6. But in walked India’s trump card Shardul Thakur, who scored 57 runs in just 36 balls with the help of seven boundaries and three sixes. With this innings, he broke many records while batting at number eight.
Fastest fifties in Tests by Indians:
30 – Kapil Dev v PAK, 1982
31 – Shardul Thakur v ENG, 2021
32 – Virender Sehwag v ENG, 2008
33 – Kapil Dev v PAK, 1978
33 – Kapil Dev v ENG, 1982
IND vs ENG – Heroes of Oval Test: Rohit Sharma
A fine century from Rohit Sharma and India lead by 100 at tea.
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/YAhzz6Q38q
🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/LHsOslfvxe
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 4, 2021
India were trailing by almost 100 runs in the first innings. Thus, it was expected of the Indian openers to put their best foot forward. Rohit Sharma rose to the occasion and scored his first-ever century overseas. He slammed a century off 205 balls with the help of 12 fours and a six that he used to bring his ton. He went on to score 127 runs off 256 deliveries. With that, he also shattered 5 records.
- He completed 15,000 runs in international cricket, only the 8th player from India to achieve the feat.
- Rohit Sharma also completed 11,000 runs as an opener across all formats.
- The century at Oval helped him complete 2,000 runs in England.
- The 127-run knock meant, he has completed 1,000 runs in 2021 across all formats.
- Rohit also crossed the 3,000-run mark in Test cricket.
IND vs ENG – Heroes of Oval Test Jasprit Bumrah
India have taken four wickets since lunch.
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/Kh5KyTSOMS
🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/bJDiEoIgg8
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 6, 2021
Jasprit Bumrah played a vital role in the win by picking the wickets of in-form England players like Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed. In the second innings, he created a momentum back taking back to back wickets in one spell. Bumrah also clinched his 100th wicket in this Test to become the fastest Indian speedster to achieve the milestone. Bumrah broke former Indian skipper Kapil Dev’s record. Kapil Dev had taken 25 Tests to reach 100 wickets while Bumrah achieved the milestone in his 24th game.
IND vs ENG – Heroes of Oval: Ravindra Jadeja
A good ball to end an impressive innings.
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/Kh5KyTSOMS
🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/KS68VzSIsn
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 6, 2021
India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was picked above R Ashwin for the fourth Test. He was even promoted in the batting order by Virat Kohli. However, he could not perform with the bat, he delivered with the ball in the fourth innings. When the ball got old, all eyes were on how Jadeja bowls. Many cricket experts went on to say that India will miss R Ashwin in the fourth innings, however, Jadeja made sure that India win the historic Test by claiming four important wickets in the match. In the first innings, he removed Moeen Ali and Ollie Robinson while in the second innings he sent back Haseeb Hameed and Moeen Ali.
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