London: Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar hit 53 each as India were bowled out for 396 in 88 overs and set England a target of 374 to win the fifth Test at The Oval and clinch the first edition of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
The day began with Akash Deep hitting an entertaining 66, his first Test fifty and was followed by Yashasvi Jaiswal making 118, his sixth Test century. Jadeja and Sundar, who timed his acceleration well, then smashed half-centuries each to set an imposing target for England.
For England, Josh Tongue took 5-125, while Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton took 3-127 and 2-98 respectively. With 26 overs left in the day, England will now embark on their second-highest run-chase in Tests, which is sandwiched between their second-highest and highest successful chases in the longest format of the game.
The final session began with India’s lead going past 330, before Overton trapped Dhruv Jurel lbw for 34. Jadeja then got his fifth fifty of the series by punching Tongue through backward point for four, before edging to second slip off the pacer. Three balls later, a fired-up Tongue trapped Mohammed Siraj lbw.
Sundar then began his acceleration by hoicking Atkinson over midwicket for six, before swivelling Tongue over fine leg and mid-wicket for a brace of maximums. The all-rounder cut and pulled Atkinson for back-to-back boundaries, before bringing up his fifth Test fifty from 39 balls by smacking the pacer over mid-wicket for six.
But in a bid to take another six off Tongue, Sundar skied a catch into the leg side, where Zak Crawley held on to it, despite colliding with Ollie Pope. It gave Tongue his five-wicket haul, as England are now on the pursuit of achieving their second-highest chase in Tests.
Brief Scores: India 224 and 396 in 88 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 118, Akash Deep 66; Josh Tongue 5-125, Gus Atkinson 3-127) lead England 247 in 51.2 overs (Zak Crawley 64; Prasidh Krishna 4-62) by 373 runs
(IANS)
