England vs India, 5th Test, Day 1: What went down

The fifth and final Test of the series started at the Kennington Oval, London under bright sunshine. It was a dead rubber but the crowd gathering and atmosphere at the ground did not make us realize that. Let's look at some of the major things sequentially that occurred on day 1.

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#1 Hanuma Vihari makes debut

Hanuma Vihari gets the test cap from Virat Kohli

The big surprise came when the team management gave us a shock by selecting Hanuma Vihari in place of Hardik Pandya, overlooking Karun Nair. Nair had been with the team on the tour since the first test, but Vihari who joined the team after the three test matches was preferred ahead of him. Legendary Sunil Gavaskar who is a part of the expert panel for the broadcasters was visibly very upset by it.

Another surprise was India decided to go with the same opening combination given the dismal show by them. Dhawan and Rahul have been way short of runs in the series and so everyone was expecting for Prithvi Shaw to make his debut but it wasn't to be.

But as expected Ravindra Jadeja was picked in the playing 11 for the first time in the series in place of Ashwin. On the other hand, England went in with the same playing 11 from the last game.

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#2 The Toss

Virat lost the toss again

It was very hard to believe to everyone that Virat Kohli lost the toss again. He might have conquered England with his bat but he was whitewashed in terms of toss by his counterpart Joe Root. On a sunny day at the Oval, Root decided to bat first on a pitch which looked a batting friendly one.

#3 The slow start

Cook was given a guard of honour in his last Test by Team India

Before the start of the innings, all eyes were on one man playing his last Test, Alastair Cook. Cook went into the field with a standing ovation by the crowd and a guard of honour by team India which was appreciated by the packed Oval crowd.

Indian pace attack were on fire in this series and it was expected from them to make some early breakthroughs. But there was nothing much happening for them from the pitch. The pitch looked to be on the slower side and a great one to bat on.

England negotiated the first hour without much trouble, before Jennings was picked up by Jadeja, proving his selection right from the first session itself. England were 68/1 at the end of the first session.

#4 The even slower second session

Cook reaches fifty in his last Test

There was nothing much to talk about the post-lunch session as England batsmen were extremely defensive. At the end of the session, they scored only 55 runs in the 31 overs that were bowled. Indian bowlers were very disciplined and didn't allow England the freedom. Meanwhile, Cook reached his half-century in the first innings of his last Test match.

#5 The exciting last session

Ishant Sharma took 3/28 in 22 overs

This is where all the action took place. Cook and Moeen had put on 73 runs partnership. Both were looking set and India were staring at a huge total, until Cook dragged one ball into the stumps on the bowling of Bumrah. The wicket of Cook turned things around for team India.

In the same over that Cook got out, Bumrah trapped Root in front of the wickets with an inswinging delivery. In the next over Bairstow nicked one back to the keeper of the bowling of Ishant. In the span of 10 minutes England lost Cook, Root and Bairstow.

After that, there was a slight re-building until Jadeja got Stokes out. After making 50, Moeen Ali got a beauty from Ishant and was caught behind the stumps. Curran went on a duck, again Ishant was the guilty party. So from 133/1 England ended the day on 198/7. England lost 6 wickets in just 48 runs with three players scoring a duck, Root, Bairstow and Curran.

Indian bowlers were disciplined all day long which is very heartening to see. Shami was the unluckiest bowler yesterday because he didn't get a wicket, but the way he bowled, he deserved a couple of them. At the end of the day 1 it was India who were on top, but as it has happened in the series earlier also India lose their way on day 2 or 3. Let's see what's in stock for us on day 2.