India recovered well to end the day slightly ahead of England as the pacers claimed three early wickets in the final session on Day 1 of the fourth Test at The Oval. England lost the crucial wickets of Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed and skipper Joe Root with the score at 53/3 at stumps, still trailing by 138 runs. At Stumps, Dawid Malan and Craig Overton were at the crease. Earlier, England dominated the first two sessions with regular wickets but soon found themselves at the receiving end of Shardul Thakur's blistering half-century. The counter-attacking display by Thakur helped India post 191 runs, with captain Virat Kohli also scoring an important fifty earlier in the day. Pacer Chris Woakes starred for England with four wickets as the Indian batting line-up did not get going until Thakur's blitz. The likes of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane failed to make an impact as the Indian lower middle-order again saved India from a collapse. (SCORECARD)
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
Virat Kohli
Joe Root