India vs England : 5th Test Match at Oval; Day One :

 India vs England : 5th Test Match at Oval.

Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

Day One : 

The final Test Match commences, and everyone is eager to see who will win. A few days prior to this test match, both teams showed their apprehensions about fielding the best possible combination due to injury, which has taken a toll on the physical endurance of the main players of both teams, including Ben Stokes, Japrit Bumrah, and Risabh Pant.

England's team was very clear, handed over the captaincy to Ollie Pope, and included a few players selected for the first time. Jacob Bethell is a young, talented player who plays in all formats of the game. A batting all-rounder, Bethell is a fluent left-handed batter who has enjoyed success in a variety of different roles. He always bowls tidy left-arm spin and is an electric fielder, both in the ring and on the boundary.  He has played three tests and has proved himself with three fifty-plus scores in each test match. Jamie Overtone, who has played one test match in 2022, is a bowling all-rounder has his name in the record 7th wicket partnership of 241 runs along with Bairstow.

There was lot of discussions and talks on finding the best combination for India in absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and also the bowling failure of Shardul Thakur. With Akash Deep fit to bowl and Arshdeep, Kuldeep already waiting to play their first game of the series, Indian team had lot of options but ultimately the think tank decided to include Akash Deep as replacement of Jasprit Bumrah and Karun Nair in place of Shardul Thakur. Since the pitch had a layer of grass, the left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep failed to make a cut. Prasidh got the call ahead of Arshdeep and Dhruv Jurel as decided in place of Rishabh Pant. India had to go again with the shortage of a specialist bowler and bolstered up the batting line up.

The toss was very important with nearly 8 mm of grass, cloudy skies & overcast conditions for any team to bowl first. The toss also was delayed due to rain, and when it happened, Pope called the coin correctly following Ben Stokes and put India into bat. The English bowling attack was strengthened with the inclusion of Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Jamie Overtone and Chris Woakes. The conditions and the wicket with the green tinge produced the necessary movement of the seam and the swing with the help of the bounce. Gus Atkinson with the comeback proved his inclusion with real fast spell and also the movement he could generate from the wicket and the conditions. He was the most economical till the last moment of the day and had his share of two wickets in the match, which were absolutely gems of deliveries. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn't manage the incoming delivery and was trapped leg before, the ploy England had put in as strategy to bowl him round the wickets worked again.

Both the openers could not produce the desired partnership with KL Rahul also perishing to a poor stroke dragging the ball into his stump off the bowling of Woakes. The Indian innings also experienced a horrible mix-up and Shubman Gill was out to a suicidal run-out with Atkinson shattering the stumps of his own bowling, finding Gill out of the crease by miles. Both lunch and tea were taken early due to the rain. 

From 83 for 3 and after the play resumed post tea session with no further interruptions, both Sai Sudarshan and Karun Nair tried to steady the innings. Josh Tongue and Jamie Overtone couldn't hold the batters, with Tongue being erratic and also going for extras. However, one of the better delivery did took the edge of Sai Sudarshan's bat and landed in the gloves of Smith. Sai Sudarshan before that was trying to bat with focus even though missing on few deliveries and also producing some Cricketing shots ultimately perished at his personal score of 38 runs. 

Karun Nair was playing patiently; he had to prove his inclusion with all possibilities of the last chance he may be getting. He played with confidence and also waited for the right deliveries to score was joined by Jadeja, the hero of Lords and Old Trafford test. He came before Washington Sundar; a change in the batting order from the last test match could not be sustained for long, and a thick edge off Tongue resulted in his departure. India were in dire straits at 123 for 5. Jurel replaced him, and after a small partnership perishes to a beauty from Gus Atkinson in the slip cordon with Brooks completing the formalities. 

All the partnerships were small, unlike the last test matches. For the first time, Indian team had faced such a situation with the score at 153 for 6. It was up to Washington Sundar and his senior partner Karun Nair to bat for the day and pull out the team. The partnership of 51 runs between them with Karun Nair scoring his first 50 in ten test matches is the testimony to this resolve to fight back and prove his worth in the team. 

Earlier, Chris Woakes was injured while fielding and was unable to bowl during the latter part of the day. Even Bethell, who was included as a batting allrounder, in his two overs could produce some glimpses of the spin bowling which were played by them, except for a couple of beauties which just whizzed past the bat.

The extended two and a half hours post tea did produced 119 runs across 35 overs for the loss of three wickets. The green tinge in the wicket, the overcast conditions and also post sunshine it was the first time in the series that the though the ball got old and pitch also dried up, conditions flattened, the ball continued to move around. 

A fascinating view for each Cricket lover, real competitiveness between bat and ball, with England looking for one wicket before getting into India's tail, whereas Karun Nair and Washington Sundar are playing with their heads down to survive for the day and wait for the next day morning. 

With Chris Woakes injured and the inexperienced bowling attack with only Atkinson troubling the batters, whether England will be lucky to get the much-needed breakthrough or it will be on the current Indian partnership, which can take them from 204 for 6 to 300 runs and put some pressure on the England batters.

It was a strange sight mainly from Tongue with his wayward 1st spell and in totality the team giving away 30 runs as extras, the third highest contributor in the Indian innings. The two extremes of Tongue. It also reflects the poor partnerships in the Indian innings, barring the 7th wicket stand of 51 runs. 

A long way to go for securing a safe and fighting total for the English batters who are without their star player Ben Stokes, but ready to take on the Indian attack.

An interesting day awaits for the play to resume on the 2nd day, hopefully without any interruptions due to weather, making way for the result in this test match.

England is eager to win the series, and India will fight to square the series with honors even in the first-ever Anderson-Tendulkar trophy.

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