England fought their way back into contention in the fourth LV= Insurance Test, clipping India's wings with three wickets from Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali on the fourth morning.
The hosts lost control of the game on Saturday, labouring away with minimal success as India racked up 270 for three, but the pendulum swung again as they reached lunch on 329 for six.
That left them with a healthy lead of 230, but England will still hold belief if they can bring things to a close without significant damage in the afternoon session.
Lunch at The Oval 🍲 England have scalped three wickets, including the big one of Virat Kohli, and have given away just 59 runs in the first session. What does the next session have in store for us? 👀#WTC23 | #ENGvIND | https://t.co/zRhnFiKhzZ pic.twitter.com/4TNOZcOVBM — ICC (@ICC) September 5, 2021
Woakes had to wait for his turn but had an immediate impact, dismissing Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane lbw in his first two overs to halt the tourists' momentum. Moeen then got the big scalp, with away captain Virat Kohli nicking to slip while well set on 44.
India resumed 171 ahead and defied England's plans for 45 minutes, adding 26 in the process. Kohli gave a few ominous hints of his intent, creaming James Anderson through extra cover with a flourish then crunching Ollie Robinson hard down the ground.
On both occasions he gave a little skip immediately after contact, strutting away as the ball raced to the ropes. There had been a couple of plays and misses too but it was not until Woakes replaced Anderson at the Pavilion End that events took a turn.
His second ball of the day pitched in line and straightened up off the seam, slamming into Jadeja's front pad and persuading umpire Alex Wharf to raise the finger. Jadeja reviewed but was bang to rights.
The out-of-form Rahane was next up and represented easy pickings to Woakes. He successfully overturned an lbw decision off his third ball but was gone for a duck in the all-rounder's next visit. This time Rahane played round a full, straight ball destined for leg stump.
YESSSS Mo! 🙌 Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/Kh5KyTSOMS 🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Weln0WGC9b — England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 5, 2021
Kohli's role was now even bigger than ever but he scored just five runs from his last 24 deliveries before Moeen bested him for the sixth time in Tests. Propping forward at a flighted off-break that held its line, he nicked a low chance to Craig Overton who snapped it up at slip.
Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur added another 16 before the interval, with England unable to grab one more breakthrough.
