India vs England, Oval Test: Sound opening helps India shed the doubts
As he trudged back, shaking his head and seemingly convinced that he had missed the ball, KL Rahul’s face had the same gloomy expression as the hanging clouds over the Oval.
Rahul was wrong. India’s opener had indeed nicked it, as the replays showed. The bat had hit the back pad before the ball took the edge, planting the seed of doubt in both batsman and umpire’s mind. Only England knew they had their man and took to DRS to prove the point.
Eventually it had not been Woakes, who had given Rahul a torrid time in that first session and shut down his scoring options, but second-innings straggler Anderson with that perfect, probing length and then the nip away, who had done the trick.
India’s dogged opening pair had finally been dismantled, but not before Rahul and Rohit Sharma had seen through a fascinating, all important first hour and earned crucial breathing time.
The pitch favoured batsmen, there was not much happening off the seam and in the air but initial conditions were still not as easy for batting as predicted at the Oval.
It was overcast and England’s seam attack was well-rounded, relentless, wily and capable of consistently pitching on the good-length areas required on this pitch. Woakes also found more zip than the rest. But the gap with England was first closed, and then by lunch, though Rahul wasn’t there anymore, India had inched ahead.It wasn’t always pretty, but if Test cricket is a battle of small targets and incremental gains, India had conquered the first hurdle by winning that first session.
It was only 26 overs, 65 runs and that one wicket, but both teams would have taken lunch knowing India’s tenacious 83-run opening stand, which lasted a total of 33.6 overs, held the potential to tilt the game.
By the 28th over, the lights had come on and Woakes was making Rahul sweat again. India, however, had added 36 runs in the opening hour without losing a wicket, and the day had begun on a good note.
The pair had carried on from Day 2, in which they had negotiated 16 tricky overs. The more fluent and assured Sharma stayed on to reap further dividend.
For a new, makeshift opening pair without experience of opening in England, Rahul and Rohit haven’t done badly: their stands include 97 and 34 (Nottingham), 126, 18 (Lord’s), a blip at Leeds (1, 34) and 28 and 83 at the Oval.
Their average of 52.62 across 8 innings is the best by an Indian opening pair in England since 2011. India’s last three series in England had seen dismal averages from the various opening pairs: 23.70 (2018), 21.90 (2014) and 19.90 (2011).
Rohit and Rahul have now batted out 164.1 overs, the most by India’s first wicket in England since 2007. The next best is 92.4. Only one opening pair has batted longer in England since 1999. It is also a testimony to the adjustments Sharma has made in his game.
As the runs flowed post lunch and Rohit edged past his half-century, towards a well-constructed century, India would have known it was the opening which counted. The question now is, will this pair be given a longer rope, even in home Tests?
