Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul’s valiant efforts goes in vain as England pip India by 118 runs to win the Oval test and take the series 4-1. This also will be a fairytale end to the career of Man of the match- Alastair Cook who got the win in his last test in England colours. Also read: Twitter reacts after India goes down to England by 118 runs in 5th test
Earlier in the day 5, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul heroics kept India in the hunt to pull-off a victory from no-where. Rahul first rescued India from 2/3 and stitched a 118 run stand with Ajinkya Rahane to bring the game to the conclusive day. India lost two quick wickets (Rahane 37 and Vihari 0) that brought Rishabh Pant to the center.
The two attacking batsman took the attack to England and put up a 204 runs partnership before Adil Rashid picked their wickets to again bring England into the game.
After the departure of Pant, India could just manage 9 runs before they were bundled out on 345 runs. James Anderson took the last wicket of Mohammed Shami and also becomes the highest wicket taker amongst the fast bowlers in test cricket. He surpass Glenn McGrath’s record of 563 wickets
Match Summary
England 1st innings- 332/10, Jos Buttler 89, Ravindra Jadeja 4/79
India 1st innings- 292/10, Ravindra Jadeja 86, Moeen Ali 2/50
England 2nd innings- 423/10, Alastair Cook 147, Hanuma Vihari 3/37
India 2nd innings- 345/10, KL Rahul 149, James Anderson 3/45
Man of the series
England’s man of the series- Sam Curran, Third highest run getter in the series with 251 runs and 8 wickets
India’s man of the series- Virat Kohli, highest run getter in the series with 544 runs in 8 innings
Rankings
Following a 4-1 series victory, England climb one spot to fourth in test rankings, India retain their Number 1 position with 115 points.
Series so far
1st test at Edgbaston- England win by 31 runs
2nd test at Lords- England win by an innings and 159 runs
3rd test at Nottingham- India win by 203 runs
4th test at Southampton- England win by 60 runs
5th test at Oval- England win by 118 runs
My take
While the scoreline does not justify of how well contested the series has been but it has surely revived test cricket which was drowning in the sphere of rising T20 cricket. India may be outplayed at Lords, but they have out up a tremendous show in the test series. The margin of defeats have been minimal and could have been a complete different story if one player in the team can turn the favours. Overall it has been a highly contested series and we should applaud India for their efforts in pursuit to their next challenge in Australia.
