On This Day: Rohit Sharma's 127 helped India to take lead against England in 2021 Test series
Stormy spells from Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav in the second session of the final day forced England to kneel down at The Oval when they were at least in a position to level the scoreboard.
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Stormy spells from Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav in the second session of the final day forced England to kneel down at The Oval when they were at least in a position to level the scoreboard.
Accurate workers from Bumrah clinched crucial wickets of Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow in successive overs. Yadav removed Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, and James Anderson to secure India's win. But the main protagonist behind India's much-needed win was Rohit Sharma, whose second-innings 127-run knock created a clear gap between the two teams. Team India scored 466 runs in the second innings after a disappointing batting display in the first innings when they scored only 191.
After the first innings, Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes helped England to capture the driving seat. Against India's first innings of 191, team England got 290. India's batting in the second innings was vivid as Sharma scored a century, and Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, and Shardul Thakur each touched the half-century mark. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, then the captain of India, missed their fifties only by a few runs. India scored 466 and offered England a target of 368 runs.
A sudden change in momentum
Rory Burns (50) and Haseeb Hameed (63) began England's second innings in a confident way; later, Joe Root (36) also looked solid on the track. Apart from these three batters, it was mostly about India's brilliant bowling and England's batting failure. The home team collapsed for 210 runs, and India won by 157 runs.
"I wanted to be on the field, but getting that hundred was special; 100 behind, we knew how important it was to give them a target of 370-odd. A great effort from the batting unit. It's my first overseas hundred, so obviously my best one. The three-figure mark wasn't in my mind; we knew the pressure on the batting unit but kept our heads down and batted the situation," player of the match Rohit Sharma said.
India: 191 & 466
England: (T:368) 290 & 210
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Pritam Santra
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