India was on top after taming England in the fourth Test at The Oval, as the former has regained the lead in the series. Meanwhile, skipper Virat Kohli has his bowlers to applaud for it.
It was an exciting performance from the Indians on Day 5 of the fourth Test at The Oval on Monday, as its never give up attitude allowed it to tame England by 157 runs. Consequently, India has regained the lead in the five-Test series for the Pataudi Trophy, as it would fight to win it at Old Trafford in Manchester from Friday.
The talk of the Test has to be the bowlers, who displayed an authoritarian resilience against a dominant English batting, as the latter gave the vibes that the game was headed for a draw. However, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur played their part in dismantling the English middle-order in just five runs.
Following the win, Indian skipper Virat Kohli hailed his bowlers for displaying a unique show on a flat track. "We were actually looking forward to bowling with the old ball. And, we looked at that as a positive rather than thinking: 'Nothing's happening from the pitch, what are we going to do here?' Rather than that, we believed as a team, yes, we could get all ten wickets today. That's exactly why it happened today because the boys had belief," he said during the post-match presentation.
"The pitch hadn't offered enough, but as soon as the ball started reversing a bit, Jasprit just said: 'Just give me the ball.' And, he bowled that six-over spell and got us two breakthroughs, which completely shifted the momentum to our side. From there on, we knew anymore mistakes from England and we will be all over this game," he added.
He also credited Thakur for showing great character in all departments and influencing the team. "The impact performance we were looking from a lower middle-order point of view, what Shardul has done in this game has to be remembered for a long time. Even in first innings, he stood up. His 50 was actually the difference between a 150-160 lead and a 100-run lead. And, his 60 in the second innings as well, a counter-attacking one. I felt like it deflated the opposition. When I got out in the morning, they were looking at a few more breakthroughs and probably to try to restrict us to a reasonable total, but the way he batted again in the second innings was outstanding," he reckoned.
Speaking on the win, he also credited the team's character. "As I said at Lord's as well, I'm really proud of the character the team has shown, especially this morning the way the team has bowled. It is definitely among top three bowling performances that I have witnessed as Indian captain," he concluded.
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