Amenacing Jasprit Bumrah joined forces with a canny Ravindra Jadeja to decimateEngland by 157 runs in the fourth Test as India took a 2-1 lead in thefive-match series on Monday.
The Indian bowling attack was without two of itssenior pacers Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami but was still potent enough tobowl out England for 210 in 92.2 overs. The hosts were chasing a tough target of368.
Bumrah (22-9-27-2) and Jadeja (30-11-50-2) hitEngland with such ferocity that a batsman of Joe Root's (36 off 78 balls)stature looked dumbfounded at the other end with the kind of distress that hisfellow batters were in.
Perhaps that was the reason that India'sman-of-the-moment Shardul Thakur's (8-1-22-2) off-cutter was dragged back ontothe stumps by Root, signalling the end of English resistance.
Umesh Yadav (18.2-2-60-3) thencompleted the formalities with the second new ball as India won two Testmatches in a single series in England after a gap of 35 years. Virat Kohli hadsaid after the third Test that a win at Lord's didn't guarantee a win at Leedsand a humbling defeat at Leeds didn't mean that tables could not be turned atthe Oval.
The skipper's thoughts werevindicated by his team with an all-round performance -- Rohit Sharma showingsteely temperament, Shardul Thakur giving it his all knowing that chances maybe far and few. Umesh showing that he is no less effective than teammanagement's first choice quartet of pacers.
As far as Jadeja wasconcerned, he answered all the pro-Ashwin backers on his and Virat Kohli'sbehalf. He hit the rough created outside the left-hander's off-stump as hisskipper had assessed at the toss.
He started the slide makingHaseeb Hameed (63 off 193 balls) pay for his ultra-defensive tactic with aclassic left-arm spinner's dismissal. Using the rough outside the leg-stump ofthe right hander, he landed one on the spot as the opener prodded forward for adefensive stroke but the ball turned enough to evade the bat and hit the top ofthe off-stump.
Then it was Bumrah's turn tounleash his sharp incoming reverse swinging deliveries with a lethal mix ofyorkers for Ollie Pope (2) and Jonny Bairstow (0), who couldn't stop theirdefence from being breached.
Pope got one that came insharply at a brisk pace which also ensured the quickest 100th Test wicket forIndia's most prolific all-format fast bowler in the last decade. But the ballthat got Bairstow was even special as it would have made someone like WaqarYounis proud.
It moved in the air and dippedat the right time to york Bairstow and leave England in tatters. In that sameover, Bumrah bowled another menacing yorker that Root just about managed to digout.
The legendary Shane Warnetermed it as best fast bowling spell during the English summer and that too ona flat deck.
"Take a bowJaspritbumrah9! That spell of 6.3.6.2 was outstanding and the spell of thesummer so far. A class above any other fast bowler in this test match on a flatwicket ! Outstanding," Warne tweeted.
If that was not enough, MoeenAli became a "walking wicket" as he trapped himself into the set planwith Jadeja again landing on the rough outside the left-hander's off-stump.
The extra bounce meant that ithit the shoulder of he blade and Suryakumar Yadav, substituting for CheteshwarPujara at short leg, took an easy catch.
From 141 for two, it was 147for six in a space of six overs. England in that hour after lunch lost fourwickets for 19 runs in 14 overs.
India certainly got indriver's seat by lunch with those first two wickets and Hameed's approachdidn't help England's cause either.
Thakur, who was disappointingin the first innings provided the breakthrough in the 41st over after apartnership of 100 runs, the first against India in the fourth innings in 58years.
Thakur bowled one fuller andit moved a shade away taking the outside edge of the Burns' bat as he squaredup.
Dawid Malan (5) was lookingsolid in defence till Hameed misjudged a single, tapping a Jadeja delivery toshort cover where substitute fielder Mayank Agarwal picked and threw in oneaction that found Malan short of his ground much to the joy of visitors.
For Hameed, who is nicknamedBaby Boycs after Geoffrey Boycott for his stodgy batting, was not even ready todispatch the loose half volleys to the boundary as only six fours came off hisbat.
The scoreboard pressure thathis batting put went a long way in India getting a stranglehold in the secondsession to eventually close the game.