Jaiswal, Tongue assess the state of play at The Oval
With England needing 324 more runs to make it 3-1 in the five-Test series, the action heads into the penultimate day with both teams looking to edge out each other.
Following an action-packed day three at The Oval, India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal and England’s Josh Tongue threw their weight behind their respective teams to find a favourable result to conclude the gruelling five-Test series.
Jaiswal’s stylish 118 off 164 in the second innings at The Oval set the stage for India, as the visitors raced through to a massive 373-run lead at the end of their second innings. Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar posted half centuries down the order to help India set a 374-run target for England to finish the series.
After stumps, Jaiswal opened up about his mental approach heading into what was India’s last batting effort of the series.
“I think, yeah, it's very important for all of us that we need to keep pushing ourselves. And this was our last innings here. Mentally, I was ready. I need to keep pushing on this game and try to get as much as I can.
“And, of course, seeing the wicket in the first inning, I was thinking, what can be the best option in this wicket? And I was just trying to play like that and be positive. And my intent was very good that I wanted to put pressure on the bowler where they are going to bowl and where I can score runs.
“So my mentality is always like that. I think positive and go for my shots. Depends what the situation is. If the situation demands something else, I will enjoy that as well.”
Jaiswal stitched a valuable stand with Akash Deep, who came in as a night watchman at the end of second day’s play and dug in with discipline and flair during his time at the crease.
The duo added 107 runs for the third wicket, changing the course of the game by rotating the strike and pushing the ball to the boundary at regular intervals, with Akash helping himself to his highest Test score of 66.
“Akash batted really well. He did what he could and he was playing shots as well and defending very well. So we were just having a talk in the middle about what we can do best in that situation because we wanted him to play as long as he can play. So that will benefit us as well.
“So I was just thinking about how we can build this partnership as long as we can. So we were enjoying that and having a good fun.”
Having now scored runs across varied conditions, Jaiswal spoke about the learnings that come with playing Test cricket around the world. The left-hand batter has amassed two centuries and two half centuries in his 10 outings in the series.
Jaiswal had also played in the five-Test series at home earlier last year, finishing as the highest run getter of the series with 712 runs across five Tests.
“Of course you get a lot of experience when you play Test cricket. You are in the middle. You are learning a different kind of cricket. When you are playing in India the cricket is different.
"When you are playing in Australia, the cricket is different. When you are playing in England the game is different. So there is a lot of learning as well and understanding different kinds of wickets and the environment as well.
"So I think there is still a lot to gain and I am really enjoying it. I think the challenges are different in different places. If you are playing in India the challenge will be different.”
On the other hand, with England needing 324 more runs to clinch the series 3-1, Josh Tongue has thrown his support behind the England batters to flourish on Day 4.
England have eight wickets in hand to case down 324 more runs, following Chris Woakes' injury and Zak Crawley falling on the last ball of day three.
“Pretty chilled, not much overthinking about it. I was asked the same question at Headingley, so I don't see why not we can't chase down these runs,” said Tongue.
“I think how we play as a batting unit is obviously very positive and very exciting. The batting that we've got, I can't see why we can't give it a good go.”
Reflecting on his own learnings from the hard-fought series, the pacer said,
“I think a lot of up and downs. I feel like sometimes I didn't bowl as best as I could, especially the first day here.
“Let's just say I forgot about that first over. Very chuffed to get the wickets. And the main thing is getting the wickets for the team and put us in good positions to win games of cricket.”
Tongue picked up his second five-for figures in Test cricket, finishing with 5-125 as India were bowled out for 396 in their second innings.