England’s seamers wrench the initiative away from India in Oval finale

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In keeping with a seesawing series, the final match of the summer undulated for five sessions before the hosts, under lights and with their seamers in full flow, wrenched the initiative away from India’s tiring tourists.

India will resume on day three on 174/6 but with their champion no longer in situ. With 20 minutes to go until the close of play and having battled to 49, Virat Kohli pushed hard to a Ben Stokes outswinger and Joe Root at second slip did the rest.

The wicket, a fourth in an evening session that would yield five in all, emphatically swung the day and possibly the match in England’s favour. While the series may be gone, a 4-1 scoreline would be a harsh reflection of the cricket played, but with Kohli’s dismissal, such an eventuality becomes ever-more likely.

One of the enduring plotlines of the summer has been James Anderson against Kohli and the bumper Saturday crowd was treated to another gripping passage today.

Anderson was immediately convinced he had his man. The first over of his spell was a classic of the genre, and with Kohli still new to the crease, Anderson induced a fresh-air shot to his first delivery. His second brought an unsure prod to backward point, before the third cannoned into Kohli’s ankle.

Anderson was insistent but umpire Kumar Dharmasena turned down the appeal. England reviewed the decision but the original decision was rightly upheld, albeit by the smallest of margins. Kohli was visibly relieved; Anderson visibly disgruntled.

Thereafter a tight and tetchy duel took place which required every ounce of Kohli’s technical brilliance to survive.

Kohli has craved batting support throughout the summer but only Cheteshwar Pujara has been able to deliver. Pujara has been India’s mainstay for the second half of the series and appeared to be following up his breakthrough century in the fourth Test with another assured knock here.

Batting out of his crease and playing the ball late, he gave yet another mini-study in technical excellence, allied with positive intent, dancing down the pitch to Moeen Ali and whipping Stuart Broad off his stumps through mid-wicket.

But Anderson, who was ticking throughout his evening spell, would not be denied. If Kohli proved yet again beyond his reach, Pujara would not be so fortunate, and a flat-footed prod outside off stump gave Jonny Bairstow, recalled to the keeper’s position, the easiest of catches behind the stumps.

Ajinkya Rahane, for an eight-ball duck, would become Anderson’s second wicket in an exceptional spell that yielded final figures of six overs, two wickets for eight runs. But while superb, Anderson will feel it could have been better still.

Extraordinarily, he has yet to dismiss Kohli in the series. With one innings to go, according to CricViz their head-to-head record reads as follows: 270 balls, 114 runs, 48 false shots, two drops, 13 fours, no sixes.

India’s openers have yet to get going all summer, and today carried further echoes of their struggles. Shikhar Dhawan’s indifferent series continued with a tentative prod forward to be trapped by Broad on the crease, while KL Rahul, having played positively for his 37, was undone by a beautiful, late-seaming delivery from Sam Curran.

England’s tyro may have bagged a first-baller on his home ground on day one, but he is rarely out of the game for long.

India has blooded a tyro of their own in Hanuma Vihari and the 24-year-old right-hander scrapped hard to finish unbeaten at the close on 25. He will resume in the morning with Ravindra Jadeja, with India in arrears by 158.

That they face such a stiff deficit in this match was down primarily to Jos Buttler, who gave further evidence, on his 28th birthday, of his burgeoning presence as a top-quality Test match cricketer. Buttler became, after Kohli, the second batsman to pass the 500-run mark for the summer, and did so in a blaze of controlled hitting and strategic ingenuity.

Supported by Broad in an enterprising partnership of 98 for the ninth-wicket, Buttler played the situation expertly, before, following Broad’s dismissal for 38, opening his shoulders to hit Jasprit Bumrah for two sixes in an over.

He was on 89 and eyeing a second century of the series when he perished to an excellent slip catch by Rahane. The wicket gave Jadeja his fourth of the innings; it’s been an excellent first outing for the left-arm spinner in this series.

While India will be disappointed to have given up 151 runs for the final three wickets, they will point to numerous occasions when the luck deserted them. In particular, spare a thought for Mohammed Shami: wicketless across 30 overs, CricViz confirmed he induced 42 false shots from England’s batsmen. His fortunes rather summed up India’s as a whole.