Jos Buttler once again proved to be the thorn in India's path, as he scored a crucial fifty and stitched together two crucial partnerships to take England to 304/8 at lunch on day 2 of the fifth and final Test, at the Oval.
The wicketkeeper-batsman (63*) first put on a 33 runs with Adil Rashid (15), and followed it up with a crucial unbeaten 90-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Stuart Broad (36*) to take England to safety, after the Indian bowlers had ended day 1 strongly, reducing the hosts to 198/7.
also read
- Yashasvi Jaiswal wins ICC Player of Month Award
- India make it 4-1 with crushing win in Dharamsala, thrive on impatience of England batters
- 'Magnificent': England's James Anderson captures 'Peak 700'
- Why Shubman Gill's father doesn't like him batting at No.3
- Fourth Test: India aim for WTC points; England to play for pride
Jasprit Bumrah got the early breakthrough for India by trapping night watchman Adil Rashid lbw for 15 runs. The ball skidded through his defences, and the review showed it would have gone on to clip leg stump.
Both Mohammed Shami and Bumrah got the ball to swing prodigiously, but were unlucky not to find the edge of the bat though the English batsmen played and missed quite a number of times.
England have already taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five Test-match series.
