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Six wickets in the final session by the Men In Blue reduced the hosts to 198-7 at the end of Day 1 at The Oval. Alastair Cook stood out in his final test with a gritty knock of 71 before being castled by Bumrah.
Losing the toss for the fifth consecutive time, Virat Kohli and co. had the new ball in their hands after England captain Joe Root elected to bat. The Blues dished out the new cap to Hanuma Vihari who alongside Ravindra Jadeja was drafted into the playing eleven in place of Hardik Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin.
The England openers managed to put on their most successful stand in the series after staying for 23.1 overs. Moeen Ali once again found himself up the order and stitched a 73 run stand with Cook. The dismissal of Cook triggered a collapse which saw the hosts lose their next 3 wickets for just 1 run.
Joe Root was dismissed for his first duck in 14 innings while Jonny Bairstow’s barren run continued with yet another duck. Ben Stokes did not trouble the scorecard much either. The reliable Sam Curran too was dismissed for 0 by Sharma.
The Indian bowlers were a cohesive unit with everyone getting a chance to sizzle. Ishant Sharma led from the front to scalp 3 wickets while Bumrah and Jadeja ended the day with 2 wickets apiece.
With only Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali converting their starts, Byes ended up being England’s third highest scorer with 25 runs accounting to the score.
As Day 2 beckons, the England tail would look to frustrate the Indian bowlers as done multiple times in the series so far. Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid have a huge task on their hands in order to salvage the test for their former skipper.
Brief scorecard: England 198/7 (Alastair Cook 71, Moeen Ali 50; Ishant Sharma 3-28)
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