India vs England: Pacers lead Indian fightback after Cook-Moeen stand shores up hosts

LONDON: Time and again in this series, it's been the pacers who have brought India back in the contest. It wasn't any different on the first day of the fifth Test as India fought back in the final session to take 6-75 and leave England reeling at 198-7 at stumps. Jos Buttler (11 batting) got the help of DRS to survive a serious leg-before appeal by Mohammad Shami with Adil Rashid (4 batting) giving him company.
READ ALSO: Hope Virat Kohli doesn't become too authoritarian, says Mike Brearley
The Oval pitch, like every other strip in this series, had a bit in it for the bowlers. But for the first two sessions, it seemed England, going into the Test after wrapping up the series at Southampton, would take control. Alastair Cook (71), playing his final Test, Keaton Jennings (23) and Moeen Ali (50) had given England a start which wasn't flamboyant but effective.
Cook showed all the characteristics that made him one of the greatest England openers of all time. He left balls, grafted, got beaten, but stuck on, just the way he had all through his career to get those 12,000- plus runs. The left-hander even got a life on 37 when Ajinkya Rahane dropped him off Ishant Sharma, but he fought on.
READ ALSO: Ashwin's injury got aggravated, says Kohli
The crowd loved the gumption of Cook and urged him on to score his 33rd century, but it was not to be. Jasprit Bumrah (2-41) induced an inside edge off the left-hander and had him bowled in the final session. And that triggered the remarkable collapse that saw India roaring back in the game. Bumrah swung one in the same over to have Joe Root leg-before for a duck and the fragile England middle-order was once again under the scrutiny of a fired-up Indian pace attack.
After that it was an Ishant Sharma (3-28) show as England lost wickets in a heap. The pacer has been exceptional with his line and length in this series and he kept doing what he has done till now in all the games. While there was no loose delivery on offer, the batsmen kept getting drawn to his back of the length deliveries around the off-stump and keeper Rishabh Pant picked up the nicks.
As wickets kept falling, Moeen, who is being seen by captain Root as England's long-time No. 3, showed that he has at least developed the necessary patience to be a top-order batsman. But Ishant had the last laugh as England struggled to negotiate conditions that should be meat and drink for their top-order. While Ishant and Bumrah were picking up the wickets in the last session, it was Mohammad Shami who kept England under a leash in the first two.