Momentum with England as "hurt" India pursue Oval fightback

Overview

**England vs India, fourth Test**The Oval, London
September 2-6, 11 AM local

After a collapse in the final innings at Lord's in the second Test, England made a spirited comeback in Leeds to restore parity in the five-match series. While Joe Root, the new No.1-ranked Men's Test Batter in the world, has been the lynchpin of their batting line-up, the hosts will be pleased with the performances of the new top three comprising Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan.

The return of Chris Woakes into the squad will give the already-packed pace bowling line-up a huge boost ahead of the fourth Test. Having last played a Test match in August 2020, Woakes is expected to be drafted straight into the playing XI in place of Sam Curran, who has had a below-par series by the standards he set the last time India toured England.

India, meanwhile, have a lot to ponder about in terms of team selection. The form of Ajinkya Rahane and injury to Ravindra Jadeja will be the two biggest causes of concern going into the fourth Test. With Hanuma Vihari waiting in the wings, and Ravichandran Ashwin capable with the bat, it remains to be seen if India ring in the changes.

India called up Praisdh Krishna, the Karnataka paceman, into their squad ahead of the fourth Test, and the management will now have another option in their efforts to manage the workloads of the pacers.

With the series in the balance at 1-1, both teams will be desperate for victory, the result pushing the winning side to the top of the ICC World Test Championship table.

Remember the last time

England made an incredible comeback at Headingley as they beat India by an innings and 76 runs to level the series 1-1.

Virat Kohli's decision to bat first after winning the toss didn't go as planned as the batting lineup collapsed for just 78 runs in the first innings, their eighth-lowest total in Test cricket.

England made full use of the conditions easing up for batting as each of the top four registered a 50+ score. Joe Root was once again the star batter for England, scoring his third century of the series.

The Indian bowlers found their rhythm late on day two and wrapped up England's innings for 432 early on day three, but the hosts had already amassed a massive lead of 354 runs by then.

Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli showed great resistance as India finished day three on 215/2 but crumbled in the first session of day four as they lost the remaining wickets for just 63 runs. Ollie Robinson, who has adjudged the Player of the Match, produced a delightful display of pace bowling as he registered the second five-for of his career.

What they said

Joe Root (England captain):"A world-class team like India, led by Virat (Kohli) I expect nothing less than a response and we'd be naive to think otherwise. That's why I think it's really important that we don't get too comfortable, we don't think that we've achieved anything at this point, we've just got ourselves back to level playing."

Virat Kohli (India captain): "We like to be in this situation where people start coming at us with doubts and start questioning our ability. That is the situation we love best. We will not be demoralised by the loss. The guys in the changing room are hurt. When you are hurt, you really want to correct the things that did not go our way. That is the way we will play the next two Tests."