For a change, the Indians would have gone back to their hotel rooms with not too much to ponder about in the day. But much of that is because two of the three sessions on the first day of the final Test match against England at Oval was washed away due to slight, but non-stop rain.
England V India 4th Test At Oval Day 1: Rain Restricts England Charge
Two sessions of the first day of the Oval Test were washed out due to rain and England were 75 without loss at stumps.
At the end of the first session’s play, England had gotten to 75 on the board but not only had they not lost a single wicket, but they were also almost untroubled. This, unfortunately for them, remained the score till the end of the day with the rain refusing to relent and the umpires having to call stumps.
England had won the toss earlier and decided to bat first under cloudy conditions, a decision borne out of a combination of Praveen Kumar’s absence and James Anderson’s fitness issue. Captain Andrew Strauss did proclaim at toss that Anderson was 100% fit but an extra couple of days of rest wouldn’t hurt their premier pace bowler.
India, on the other hand, went in with a surprising selection in place of the injured Praveen. RP Singh, who had flown into the Indian squad after the injury to Zaheer Khan had become apparent, made it to the playing eleven ahead of Munaf Patel, who has been with the side since the start of the series. It, then, defied logic to have RP Singh being given a chance before Munaf.
The one explanation that came closest to being rational was that the English side had four good left-handed batsmen and needed a left-arm bowler to threaten him. But given the pace at which RP Singh, he would have barely threatened school boys let alone an international side.
Ishant Sharma did his bit, trying to extract the pace and bounce from the pitch – in turn also hitting the English captain on his helmet once. However, that aside, it was fairly comfortable going for the openers, who had just come off a record first wicket stand against India in the previous Test match at Edgbaston.
India’s body language did nothing to help matters; there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm which could well be because of the scoreline or fatigue. Either way, combined with a flat-looking pitch, the attitude will not augur too well for the Indian side for the rest of the Test match.
Unless it can keep raining throughout the Test match and bring an early end to the Indian misery.
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