Ind vs Eng: some blast from past at Oval.

Ind vs Eng: Ravi Ashwin

Ind vs Eng: With the series now tied at 1-1 after the 3rd test, England’s historic win over India at Headingly. It is now time for the 4th test at the Oval. We will see some past records and try to pair them with the current scenario.

Virat Kohli. (Twitter)
Ind vs Eng: Virat Kohli. (Twitter)

Ind vs Eng 2018 at Oval.

back in 2018, India battled out with England at Oval, eventually losing the game by 118 runs. In the first Innings, England made 332 runs. Jos Buttler (89) and Alastair Cook (71) made it possible. Jadeja took 4 wickets for India.

( India would have gone with 2 spinners there, R. Ashwin )

India’s first Innings was marked at 292. With Ravindra Jadeja (86*) being the highest scorer and Hanuma Vihari (56) supporting. An all-around effort from the English bowling attack, but the interesting figure is Moeen Ali (2) and Adil Rashid (1) got into wickets column.

( 7 wickets till now for the spinners )

England’s 2nd innings expanded their lead. Cook (147) and Root (125) were the 2 Centurian who took England to declare the innings at 423/8. Ravindra Jadeja (3) and Hanuma Vihari (3) were the picks of the bowlers.

India’s 2nd Innings effort was not enough to hunt the target of 464 runs. KL Rahul (149) and Rishabh Pant (114) effort went in vain as India lost by 118 runs. 2 wickets between Moeen Ali (1) and Adil Rashid (2) and 3 for Anderson.

What can be seen is that Pace bowlers are effective in England of course but pitches like Headingly and Oval spinners are dangerous too.

Rohit Sharma after scoring a half-century. (Twitter)
Rohit Sharma after scoring a half-century Ind vs Eng. (Twitter)

India horrible at the Oval.

India has played 13 tests at the Oval and has only managed to win 1 match. While 7 games are drawn and 5 are lost.

Pujara, Kohli, and Rahane’s batting averages at the Oval are 13, 18.75, and 10.25 respectively. Rohit Sharma will play his first Test at the Oval. KL Rahul, Pant had centuries in 2018.

Our bowling is not any different. We have failed to stop England from scoring and also to take wickets. R. Ashwin has not played a match at Oval. Ishant Sharma has played 3 tests and taken 8 wickets while Jadeja picked up 7 wickets in just 1 match.

The Oval is definitely not kind to India. But we can turn it around with some good team selection.

The good news for India is that James Anderson is not going to play the 4th test?

My 11 for the Oval Test: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

what do you think?