Josh Tongue bowls poor wayward 9-ball opening over during ENG vs IND 5th Test

England captain, Ollie Pope, won the toss and decided to bowl first at the Kennington Oval in South London during the fifth Test of the five-match series on a surface where there was live grass and potential assistance for the seamers under grey skies. It was nearly a new look bowling side for England from the fourth game at Old Trafford, apart from Chris Woakes. 

Gus Atkinson, returning to the national side after several weeks of injury which he picked up during the opening Test of the summer at Trent Bridge against Zimbabwe, drew the first blood with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal. The home side expected to get a huge advantage with the wicket, but Josh Tongue’s wayward opening over didn’t give the same indication.

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The very first ball of the right-arm pacer was a short ball that headed down the leg side for a boundary as the umpire called it five wides. The bowler was quick enough to look back at the foot hole in the landing area. The second ball was on the good length, far away from KL Rahul, who had no intention to play that.

Josh Tongue's poor wayward 9-ball opening over during ENG vs IND 5th Test

The third delivery from Tongue was dropped into the offside as the batters called for a single. Sai Sudharsan faced the third legal ball of the over. The next ball was another wide delivery, followed by the second five-wides of the over. On the second occasion, it went miles away from the southpaw as the wicket-keeper had no chance of stopping the delivery.

JOSH TONGUE MASTERCLASS

- two 5 wides in an over #INDVsENGLive pic.twitter.com/qUxGLHJZn4

— Cricket iq desk 🏏 (@criciqdesk) July 31, 2025

The last two balls were legal as he slowly started to get the line right by the end of the over. However, getting 12 runs, India went off to a fine start as the pressure slowly got off the shoulders of the visiting side.

Tongue, however, coming into his second over of the innings, raised a few challenges to Rahul, who played and missed the full-length deliveries. He is a key member of the side, along with captain Shubman Gill, for India to win the fifth contest and walk off with a 2-2 drawn series result.