With the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy poised for a thrilling finish as the fifth and final Test between England and India at the Oval moves to a culmination, with the home side needing 324 more runs to win the series 3-1 while the visitors gunning for eight more scalps to level the series 2-2. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s fine century and fifties from Akash Deep, Ravidra Jadeja and Washington Sundar helped India set England a stiff target of 374, but English pacer Josh Tongue believes England “pretty chilled” about the daunting run chase.
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“It’s a replay from Headingley. I got asked the same question then so I don’t see why we can’t chase down these runs,” said Tongue after the close of pay on Day 3.
“We’re pretty chilled about it. There’s not much overthinking it. How we play as a batting unit is very positive, very exciting. With the line-up we’ve got, I can’t see why we can’t give it a good go. It will be a great day of cricket and a great day for us if we get the runs. It is doing a bit, a few balls tonight jumped off a good length, but if you get through the first hour, who knows?” added Tongue, who picked a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
The pitch at Kennington Oval, which assisted seamers in the first two days, is getting better to bat on with the sun coming out on Day 3. Elaborating on the changed nature of the surface, Tongue said, “There was a bit in it early on, but the heavy roller seemed to flatten it. Still, the odd one is jumping from length.”
England had to rotate their three frontline pacers — Tongu, Gus Atikinson and Jamie Overton — after Chris Woakes suffered a shoulder injury while diving in the 57th over of the first innings. England did considerably well with the ball in the second innings with all three pacers streaming in with literally no breaks in between.
“It was obviously going to be tough for us bowlers but I thought we stuck at it very well,” Tongue said of a depleted bowling attack. “I feel like sometimes I didn’t bowl as best as I could, especially on the first day here, but I’m obviously very chuffed to get the wickets,” he added.
