When India picked five specialist bowlers for the fifth Test at Oval, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had probably believed that his batsmen would have learnt from the defeats at Southampton and Manchester. India lost five wickets for 36 runs on Day 1 on Thursday, the floodgates opening yet again in seaming conditions. On Saturday, England will start at 62 for no loss, trying to consolidate in a match where they are already in the driver's seat. Catch live cricket score and live updates of the game here. (Live SCORECARD )
Lord's match-winner Ishant Sharma will be Dhoni's go-to man.
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Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled 14 of the 19 overs India bowled on Thursday. Varun Aaron, who broke Stuart Broad's nose at Old Trafford, and Stuart Binny were also on show. If this quartet can reproduce at least 50 per cent of what England's four-pronged pace attack did to the Gambhirs, Kohlis and Pujaras, India will stay afloat in this match.
Ishant will be key. He will be Dhoni's go-to man. Aaron's pace will be crucial, but England surely won't repeat the Manchester mistakes. Alastair Cook and Sam Robson batted cautiously, mixing a few crisp attacking strokes with watchful defence, though the captain was lucky to survive a strong lbw appeal by Kumar on nine. (DAY 1 BLOG)
The first session on any given day of a Test match, always has more for the seamers. Kumar's lateral movement will keep the batsmen on their toes but all will depend how the Indians field, especially at slips. India's slip catching, like its batting, has been a big disappointment in this series. Like a 'loyal' team man, fielding coach Trevor Penney defended India's poor batting on Friday. Penny, like chief coach Duncan Fletcher, may not save his job for long if India bat and field like this.
Only a battling knock of 82 by Dhoni saved the tourists from complete collapse and his last-wicket partnership of 58 with was by far the largest stand of the innings. Gautam Gambhir went for a golden duck, Cheteshwar Pujara never looked comfortable, crawling to four off 19 balls before he was bowled by Broad, and Virat Kohli hit the first boundary off the bat after 55 minutes of play but, on six, he left a straight ball from Chris Jordan and was adjudged lbw.
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England's Chris Woakes, centre, celebrates with teammates.
© AP
Ajinkya Rahane, on nought, got a leading edge in Jordan's next over and the bowler held a sharp return catch to reduce India to 28 for four. Opener Murali Vijay batted 92 minutes for 18 runs before he prodded tamely at a full delivery from Chris Woakes and edged a catch to Joe Root at third slip.
India struggled to 43 for five at lunch and Binny edged an Anderson outswinger to Cook at first slip before Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 24. India took tea on 125 for nine and Dhoni continued to spray the ball around the ground in the final session. He hit 15 fours and batted for over three hours.
With rain in the London air, England will hope to bat the entire day on Saturday. A lead of 300 will put the Indians under enormous pressure again.
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