After India’s courageous lower order left the hosts needing 368 runs to win the fourth test with one day remaining, England dared to dream of a record-breaking run chase.
On Day 5 at the Oval, Joe Root’s side will need their biggest-ever fourth-inning victory to win. After seeing the tourists pile up 466 all out in their second innings on a more docile pitch on Sunday, that doesn’t seem as far-fetched.
Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed opened the innings for England, sharing a chanceless 77-run stand before stumps, leaving England needing another 291 runs with all 10 wickets in hand.
All outcomes are still possible, but by far the most astonishing would be an England team scoring six more runs than their previous best — Ben Stokes’ ‘Miracle of Headingley’ in the 2019 Ashes.
If it hadn’t been for a courageous seventh-wicket stand of 100 between Rishabh Pant (50) and Shardul Thakur (60), England would have been looking at a far more manageable total to chase.
England had spent more than 148 overs and 11 hours on the field by the time they finally closed things up, with their assault all but depleted.
In light of this, Burns’ (31 not out) and Hameed’s (43 not out) ability to bat for another 32 overs was all the more impressive.
After India reached 445-8 at tea for a commanding second-innings lead of 346 runs, England’s prospects of winning the test had shifted to thinking about holding out for a draw.
When it was revealed that India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, along with three other members of his backroom team, had tested positive for COVID-19, the team’s preparations for the day’s play were hampered.
Shastri, along with bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar, and physiotherapist Nitin Patel, returned a positive lateral flow test on Saturday evening and has not travelled to the ground as he awaits the results of a PCR test.
After two consecutive lateral flow tests, one on Saturday night and one on Sunday morning, the rest of the team was cleared to report for duty.
According to a statement from India’s Board of Control for Cricket, all four “will remain in the team hotel and not travel” until the PCR test results are available.
