It’s going to be a Monday morning thriller to decide the cricket series between England and India after bad light and rain forced an early end to play in the fifth and final Test, with England needing another 35 runs to win.
England was 339-6 at stumps on day four on Sunday, chasing a target of 374. England leads the series 2-1.
India needs to claim another four wickets – perhaps three – for victory and tie the series.
England has potentially only three wickets left because of all-rounder Chris Woakes’s shoulder injury. Woakes was seen in his cricket whites at the Oval on Sunday, but with his left arm in a sling amid speculation he would come out at number 11 if needed and bat one-handed.
Joe Root was again England’s saviour on Sunday with 105 runs, and Harry Brook hit 111, as England aimed to pull off another awe-inspiring run chase.
Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith (2 not out) and bowler Jamie Overton (0 not out) are at the crease.
England chased down 371 in the Leeds opener, its record run chase at Headingley.
Root and Brook had hit what looked to be series-clinching Test centuries – Root’s 39th and Brook’s 10th – before India stormed back to set up an agonizing day five finish as the two batters stumbled with victory in sight.
Jacob Bethell also fell to a dreadful shot, piling the pressure on England.
England had been set to achieve its most audacious chase of the Bazball era, and the second-highest in its history, with apparent ease. But its late stumble started when Brook threw his bat and wicket away against Akash Deep, skying a catch to mid-off. The century in his 30th test made Brook the fastest man to 10 hundreds in 70 years. Brook had made India dearly pay for not getting him out on 19 before lunch, when Mohammed Siraj caught Brook but carried it over the boundary rope.
Then the jittery Bethell produced an ugly swipe to drag down his stumps, before Root was caught behind in a wicket maiden for Prasidh Krishna (3-109), with the hosts still needing another 37 runs.
Root and Brook had reversed the momentum of the match in a cruisy afternoon session after India won the morning session and was heavily favoured at lunch.
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