The author of this article is Shri C Prahlada Rao – one of the greatest cricket connoisseurs I have come across. He used to work for Syndicate Bank and then later on joined Dena Bank as General Manager – Computers at Mumbai. Its here that I came across this genial gentleman who used to reel off many anecdotes just through his sheer memory. He is now settled in his home town Udupi and me at Bangalore but the distance does not come in between us when we talk of cricket through telephone for many hours. Here is what Sri C Prahlada Rao thinks of The Oval Test 2021 between England and India

Phew! What a sensational test match the Oval test turned out to be!

For the record, we won a test match at ‘The Oval’, London after 50 years. If you recall, ace spinner BS Chandrasekhar captured 6 wickets for 38 runs to bowl India to her first historic win on the English soil in 1971.

When Team India arrived at the Oval, the odds were stacked against us. We pulled off a sensational victory at Lord’s ; but surrendered the lead quite meekly at Leeds, by handing over an Innings victory to England . We were bowled out to a meager 78 in the first innings and fared no better in the second innings too .

Even the hardcore fans were stunned at the manner in which our team capitulated.

Thus, at the start of this 4th test, though the series stood tied at 1-1, we were clearly the underdogs .

England skipper Joe Root won the toss and without hesitation asked India to bat in gloomy and overcast conditions. In conditions heavily assisting swing bowling , India were bowled out to 190 . But for Shardul Thakur’s lusty hitting late in the India Innings (57 off 36 balls) , even this modest score was not visualized when we were 127/7.

When England batted, Bumrah bowled with fire and got rid of both the openers cheaply. India even managed to get rid of the in-form skipper Root and the dangerous David Malan early. England were reduced to 62/5 at one stage but our bowlers couldn’t repeat their stellar show at Lord’s and England made merry with Chris Woakes scoring a brisk 50 in the company of the tail enders to stretch the lead to a healthy 99 .

In a low scoring game, a 99-run lead can be decisive and none could imagine that India would ultimately emerge as winners.

The second innings saw our batsmen put up a show we all can be proud of. The openers grafted and managed to survive the second day and continued with their good work on the 3rd morning too. The Oval pitch too had lost its venom and the pitch conditions favoured the batsmen more than the bowlers.  Almost every top order batsman contributed with hit-man Rohit Sharma scoring his maiden overseas century with a fine 127. Fortune favours the brave, they say and lady Luck smiled at Rohit, not once, but twice,  when he was dropped by Rory Burns in the slips when his scores were 6 and 31.

From the Indian point of view, it was important to occupy the crease as much as possible and to score enough runs to wipe out the lead and still leave something for the bowlers to defend.

However, when skipper Kohli was dismissed, the scoreboard still read 312/6 , the lead just above 200 . But Shardul Thakur and Pant put up a brave and scintillating 100-run partnership to take the lead past the 300 mark.

It was real fun to watch the body language of the English team during this phase. Their noisy and notorious “barmy army” had also gone suddenly silent in the stands and the Indian supporters had a field day. The packed stadium had suddenly come alive with the Indian tricolor on all sides.

With Umesh Yadav and Bumrah also joining the fun, our lead stretched to 367 and Eng were left to score 368 for a win in more than four sessions.

At this stage, all the possibilities – an Indian win, a draw or an England win were open. The pitch still looked batsmen friendly and there was no sign of rain.

When the openers put up 100 runs, none could hazard a guess as to which way the test was heading. At 142/2, with opener Hameed & Root at the crease  , with plenty of overs to go, the match still looked wide open.

But this is Test Cricket with its glorious uncertainties. Jasprit Bumrah asked for the ball and produced an unplayable spell and Jadeja kept up the pressure at the other end . Between overs 62-68, Eng lost 4 precious wickets. Bumrah got rid of Pope and Bairstaw through two express yorkers and from then on, England had to graft to save the test. Their batsmen had no answer to Bumrah and Umesh Yadav and even Joe Root somehow managed to survive his hostile spell.

When Shardul Thakur got rid of skipper Joe Root and Umesh Yadav accounted for Chris Woakes, it was only a question of time before we could celebrate a victory.

Hail the new, resurgent India.