NEW DELHI: England’s Bazball brigade faces its sternest test yet as they gear up to chase a mammoth 374-run target set by India in the fifth and final Test at The Oval. If successful, it would be the highest fourth-innings chase ever achieved at this historic venue — shattering a record that has stood since 1902.
Live Score: India vs England 5th TestIndia’s second-innings total of 396 — powered by
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s second century of the series (118), and impactful fifties from Akash Deep (66),
Ravindra Jadeja (53), and Washington Sundar (53) — has left England with a mountain to climb.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!No team has successfully chased more than 263 at The Oval in the fourth innings — a record England set over a century ago in their one-wicket win over Australia. To overhaul that by 111 runs would demand not only Bazball’s signature aggression but near-flawless execution.
England’s top two successful chases in history — 378 against India in 2022 (Edgbaston) and 371 against India earlier this series in Leeds — both came on flatter tracks. But The Oval’s variable bounce and wearing pitch pose a different challenge altogether.
India, resuming on 75/2 on Day 3, rode on a 107-run partnership between Jaiswal and nightwatchman Akash Deep. Jadeja and Sundar continued the pressure, even as England’s bowlers, hampered by the absence of
Chris Woakes and six dropped catches, struggled to contain the flow of runs.
Jaiswal’s hundred came off 127 balls, decorated with 12 fours and two sixes. Akash Deep, playing only his tenth Test, impressed with his maiden fifty. Sundar’s 53 off just 46 balls added vital late runs.
Captain Shubman Gill’s 11 took his series tally to 754 — just 20 runs shy of Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time Indian Test series record.
England now have just over two days to rewrite history. Can they do it, or will India clinch a famous series-leveling win in London?
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