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          England vs India, 4th Test, The Oval, 4th day - Live Report

          • Matt Roller
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              Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98
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          Sep 5, 2021, 05:59 PM

          It's all square at The Oval and the game is in the balance. Who's going to make strides towards a series lead? Can Virat Kohli help India grow their lead or will James Anderson strike for England? Follow it all on our live blog. For ball-by-ball commentary, click here. For our coverage in Hindi, click here.

          6.48pm: Stumps

          England 290 and 77 for 0 need 291 more runs to beat India 191 and 466 (Rohit 127, Pujara 61, Thakur 60, Pant 50, Woakes 3-83)

          Shardul Thakur and Rishabh Pant's half-centuries frustrated England and left them needing to complete their highest-ever run chase to take a 2-1 lead in the series, but an unbroken 77-run opening stand between Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed kept them in with a chance of pulling it off.

          India resumed three wickets down with a lead of 171 on the fourth morning, and pressed on towards a significant third-innings total thanks primarily to Thakur and Pant's 100-run stand for the seventh wicket. They lost wickets in clusters but England's bowlers struggled to create regular chances on a flat Oval pitch and their total of 466 was their highest in the second innings of a Test since 2009.

          England's openers were tasked with seeing out 32 overs in the evening session but managed to do so with few concerns. Virat Kohli quickly turned to Ravindra Jadeja, who bowled 13 overs on the spin as he searched for the rough created by the seamers' footholes, but he struggled for consistency in his length. Burns was gritty and defensive but Hameed found some fluency, clipping boundaries off his pads and driving forcefully through the covers to leave England eyeing an improbable win.

          Full report

          6.05pm: England in control

          Still no great cause for concern at this stage for England's openers. Jadeja is yet to find his length and has bowled too many full tosses, and the seamers are struggling to create opportunities, with the ball doing very little off the seam. If England can see this through until the close - which is due to come at 6.48pm - then they might fancy their chances of pulling off an unlikely win tomorrow.

          Here are Nagraj Gollapudi's observations from The Oval: "If you are looking for an indicator as to whether India's bowlers are enjoying the upper hand, just look at Kohli in the slips. Invariably, even before the fast bowler finishes his follow-through, Kohli raises his right hand in the air with a light skip. Kohli is an excited fella, no doubt, always hopeful.

          "But a dead flat pitch and an inconsistent line of attack form the Indian bowlers has left Kohli quiet and scratching his beard, wondering how the visitors can break a fast-developing partnership between the pair Burns and Hameed who have remained unfussed and sensible, rotating strike and piling the pressure.

          "The pressure is also on Jadeja, who started with a ball that jumped off the rough as the left-armer just floated the ball without pushing at it. But then Jadeja started spraying wide and short and transferred the pressure back onto himself immediately. It only left Kohli annoyed further. At one point when Jadeja pitched the ball just in front of Burns' fourth stump, forcing the left-hander to play forward and get beaten by the turn derived from pitching on the rough, Kohli shouted from backward short leg: 'bowl four balls in that same spot and you will get a wicket.'

          "If India are to succeed, Jadeja not only has to bowl the bulk of the overs, but also find ways to beat the edges and throw questions of the batter that will create the mistakes."

          5.35pm: Steady progress for England

          No real worries for England's openers so far. Rory Burns looks in very good touch, cracking a pull through midwicket off Umesh Yadav, while Haseeb Hameed is growing in confidence and punched Jasprit Bumrah for four through point off the back foot. Jadeja has got a few balls to grip sharply out of the footholes, but there have been no real chances to speak of as yet.

          5.05pm: Jadeja comes on early

          Virat Kohli mentioned at the toss that he considered Ravindra Jadeja to be a good match-up to England's left-handers and he is putting that theory to the test. Jadeja comes on to bowl the eighth over and immediately finds some sharp spin out of the rough. "Dump it in the rubbish and plant the seed early" is Shane Warne's advice on Sky.

          Across Jadeja's Test career, his bowling average against right-handers (24.80) and left-handers (24.85) are almost identical. With many - myself included - thinking that R Ashwin should have been picked for this Test, Jadeja has a certain amount of pressure on him to perform in this innings.

          4.22pm: England need 368 to win

          India's fun is over. Woakes and Overton pick up the final two wickets, Bumrah caught at mid-on and Umesh driving to extra cover, and India are bowled out for a whopping 466. That leaves England with a couple of hours to bat tonight and then three sessions tomorrow.

          The scoring rate shouldn't be a major issue for them, not least with various strokemakers in the middle order and a flat pitch, but it is very rare to see a target like this chased down in the fourth innings - especially given the context of the series.

          Here's some recommended reading during the innings break: Jarrod Kimber's piece from a couple of years ago on why we think that big fourth-innings chases should be easier than they actually are.

          3.40pm: India's session

          116 runs for two wickets in 26 overs: a dream session for India. England's bowlers have been toiling hard on a flat pitch to no avail and Umesh and Bumrah have followed on from Pant and Thakur's good work with the bat. India may even get to the point of considering a declaration before long: this pitch has offered so little over the last five sessions that they will be wary of leaving themselves enough overs in which to bowl England out.

          3.15pm: Partnership broken

          Thakur and Pant's stand passes 100 but is almost immediately broken, as Root induces an outside edge from Thakur which is caught well at slip by Overton.

          Pant knocked a single into the covers to reach fifty but then decided it was the right time to attack, with Umesh in at the non-striker's end. He skipped down, looking to launch one back past Moeen, but only managed to offer a tough caught-and-bowled chance which the bowler snaffled. He drags himself off in frustration after doing all the hard work without kicking on - but that stand for the seventh wicket was vital.

          3pm: Twin fifties for Thakur

          A more restrained innings and a more restrained celebration, but this has been another vital half-century for Shardul Thakur. He's started to go through the gears, picking Robinson's offcutter and launching it down the ground for six. England should have run Pant out but Moeen Ali made a mess of the chance; he's still there on 43, surviving a tight lbw shout when he briefly lost his composure and tried to reverse-sweep Anderson.

          His drive for four off Anderson takes the score past 400 and the lead to 300 - India in control.

          2.40pm: Anderson, Robinson toil

          More hard graft for England's bowlers. Their three main seamers - Anderson, Robinson and Woakes - have bowled 89 overs between them over the last six sessions and with the final Test starting on Friday, that has to be valuable for India.

          Rishabh Pant has been restrained throughout his innings. It took him until his 53rd ball to hit a boundary, the longest in his Test career, and while he has played positively, the bulk of his runs have come through singles and twos rather than fours and sixes.

          2.05pm: Seventh-wicket stand frustrates England

          Moeen Ali has bowled poorly in this Test: far too many loose balls, as reflected by the fact he has conceded 98 runs in 22 overs and is yet to bowl a maiden. His selection at Lord's and Headingley made sense with England struggling to balance their side, but Chris Woakes' return allowed them to pick Jack Leach for the final two Tests if they wanted to; but it seems like England simply don't rate him, despite his impressive Test record. The result is that Moeen has been milked and England have lacked bite.

          Pant and Shardul Thakur have been busy since lunch, playing some attacking shots but while retaining control. They have brought up a 50 partnership in only 13.2 overs, and the lead has grown to 263. Pant has continued to fiddle with balls angled across him, outside his off stump, but has played with calm and composure: according to our ball-by-ball data, he has been in control of 95% of the balls he has faced.

          1pm: Pant in his shell

          If you were not watching the game live and were following it via ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball-ball commentary, you would read that Rishabh Pant hit a six off the third delivery Moeen Ali bowled this morning, Nagraj Gollapudi writes. Nothing special in that, you would think, considering Pant does like to charge bowlers as soon as he arrives at the crease. The true picture has been different, though.

          The above incident occurred off the 17th delivery Pant faced when he pushed Moeen's straighter delivery into the on-side and ran a fast two but cashed in via four overthrows. Having arrived around the end of the first hour this morning, the question for Pant would have been: does he back his game and play the bold and aggressive strokes or does he slip into the saddle quietly?

          In his hour-long stay so far Pant has opted the latter and has played with immense composure. The fact that he has not even once charged the bowler proves he has decided to make amends for the mistakes in the previous innings this series. Will he continue to bat in the same manner this afternoon?

          12.35pm: Moeen gets Kohli

          Another bowling change which works immediately for England. Joe Root throws the ball to Moeen Ali for a spell before lunch and he dismisses Virat Kohli with the second ball he bowls to him. Kohli had been tied down since the drinks break, spending the best part of half an hour on 40, and after creaming a cover-drive for four off Craig Overton, he remains anxious to score. He presses with hard hands outside his off stump to offer a low slip catch to Root and England have another crucial breakthrough, as the first-innings hero Shardul Thakur walks in.

          12pm: Woakes strikes twice

          England started slowly with the ball but Chris Woakes has made an immediate impact in his first spell. He traps Jadeja lbw with his second ball, the ball holding its line as Jadeja played for the angle across him, then has the under-pressure Ajinkya Rahane given out on-field shouldering arms only for the DRS to overturn the decision.

          But in his second over, Woakes goes full and straight to Rahane and finds enough movement off the seam to beat his inside edge as he shapes to work through midwicket. He opts against the review and ball-tracking confirms it would have hit the top of leg stump. In walks Rishabh Pant at No. 7 who, like Rahane, is under scrutiny after a poor series with the bat. England are fighting back; India need a partnership.

          Sampath Bandarupalli has the killer stat on Rahane's struggles: "His Test batting average is now 39.63, his lowest since December 2014 after his 12th Test match (39.57). Last time his average went below 40 was in Nagpur 2015 vs SA (39.77) which was 57 matches ago."

          11.45am: Kohli goes through the gears

          Virat Kohli is on one here. Two glorious boundaries in consecutive overs: the first, a lip-licking cover drive off an Anderson half-volley; the second a powerful, bottom-handed punch through mid-off off Robinson. He moves onto 40 off 67 balls and England's new-ball bowlers are floundering in the sunshine. Chris Woakes comes on for his first spell.

          11.15am: Running repairs

          A slowish start from England this morning, and there's a hold-up for the second time today with the groundstaff running on since James Anderson is unhappy with the state of the footholds from the Pavilion End. This isn't the first time that's happened at The Oval this season - Jamie Overton has had problems with the landing area bowling from that end in the County Championship. With the fifth Test starting on Friday, England will be wary of finding a balance between trying their level best to take wickets and keeping their seamers relatively fresh for the potential decider.

          10.45am: Four India support staff in isolation

          Some news to start the day: four members of India's support staff are self-isolating after Ravi Shastri, the head coach, returned a positive lateral flow test last night. B Arun (bowling coach), R Sridhar (fielding coach) and Nitin Patel (physio) are the three others self-isolating.

          "They have undergone RT-PCR testing and shall remain in the team hotel and not travel with Team India until confirmation from the medical team," a BCCI statement said. "The remaining members of the Team India contingent underwent two Lateral Flow Tests - one last night and another this morning. The members upon returning negative COVID reports were allowed to proceed for Day 4 of the ongoing fourth Test at The Oval."

          For more on this breaking story, click here.

          10.35am: In the balance

          India are slight favourites heading into the fourth day of this Test but the game is still very much in the balance: India's middle order have been out of form and the second new ball is only 10 overs old, so England will feel like a couple of early breakthroughs will give them an excellent chance.