Rain ensures epic series will be decided on Monday as result hangs in the balance
5th Test, Day 4: England 247 & 339-6 (Brook 111, Root 105) trail India 224 & 396 (Jaiswal 118 | Tongue 5-125) by 35 runs with four wickets remainig
THE OVAL — Cricket, eh? Just as this undulating, ill-tempered series was building towards a stunning crescendo, rain cut short the gripping drama that was promising to deliver a blockbuster conclusion to the Test summer.
Instead, with England 35 runs shy of chasing down 374 in this final Test and sealing a 3-1 series win, the umpires called time after bad light and heavy rain took the players off with the finish in sight.
The call, made by the match officials at 6.03pm on this fourth day, seemed early given it came 39 minutes before the official cut-off point for a resumption.
Inevitably, the rain soon stopped and the skies brightened over this corner of south London.
It meant the capacity crowd who packed into The Oval were denied the nerve-jangling conclusion they were craving.
The good news is that day five here is also a sell-out so the dramatic finale to a series that has ebbed and flowed violently throughout should not be played out in front of empty stands.
When it came, the break certainly suited England, who, with Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton at the crease, found themselves stuck in reverse gear after the loss of Joe Root for 105.
England were cruising in pursuit of the second-highest run chase in their Test history during a 195-run stand between Root and Harry Brook, whose innings of 111 was perhaps the best of his career given it completely changed the complexion of this match.
Yet India, buoyed by England’s collapse of 3 for 36, came right back into things before the weather consigned a gripping fourth day to a soggy anti-climax.
In keeping with what has gone before, we are no closer to knowing who will actually come out on top heading into the 25th day of this series.
England, who lead 2-1, should feel confident of winning early on day five.
Yet the night’s rest will also suit India’s weary bowlers, especially with a second new ball just 3.4 overs away.
Given the circumstances of this match, it is remarkable England are even in with a chance of winning this game.
Without talismanic captain Ben Stokes through injury and a bowler down since Chris Woakes dislocated his left shoulder late on day one, they have performed admirably to fight their way back into this.
With this series somehow still on the line, the six dropped catches in India’s second innings that cost England 152 runs also appear costly at this moment.
If things go down to the wire on the final day, Root confirmed at the close of play that Woakes will indeed come to the crease to occupy an end and, if needed, bat with only one working arm.
Maybe that is the far-fetched end this slugfest is destined for?
Things were a lot more straightforward for England when Root and Brook were making hay against a bowling attack that had completely lost the plot during an afternoon session that saw the hosts post 158 runs.
The pair came together in the morning with their team still 268 runs away from an improbable victory.
By the time they were parted, Brook caught charging Akash Deep shortly before tea and losing his bat in the process, that equation came down to 73.
With Root at the crease, England looked home and hosed, even when losing Jacob Bethell early in the evening session, a wicket that left them 332 for 5 and 42 from victory.
By that time, he had chalked up his 39th Test century, Root paying tribute to the late, great Graham Thorpe by taking off his helmet and donning a headband, his mentor’s trademark, before raising his bat.
Yet in a series that has thrown up so many plot twists it would make a Mexican telenovella appear tame, there was room for another agonising narrative shift when Root played loosely outside off-stump to fall to Prasidh Krishna.
England, with Smith and Overton at the crease, still needed 37.
Their pursuit of those runs, the pair chipping off just two in 20 balls, became glacial as India sniffed a chance of a series-levelling victory under leaden south London skies.
Mother nature then intervened to ensure there will be one more thrilling chapter to this captivating Test summer.
Hope sprung eternal at the start of a fourth day that saw the hosts resume on 50 for 1 because England had twice chased down totals in in excess of 370 during the Bazball era – 371 in the first Test of this series at Headingley and 378 at Edgbaston in 2022.
The early losses of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope tempered that hope.
However, a counter-attacking riposte by Brook and Root that reduced the required runs to 210 kept things in the balance at the interval.
Yet India went into lunch wondering just how costly their reprieve of Brook on 19 would be after Mohammed Siraj stepped onto the boundary rope taking a catch.
What should have been out became a six and instead of England being reduced to 137 for 4, still 237 adrift, they went into lunch on 164 for 3.
It may still yet be the most pivotal moment of the series.