ENG vs IND: Umesh Yadav explains how India let England off the hook after reducing them to 62/5

Fast bowler Umesh Yadav reckoned that Team India became a tad complacent after sending half the England batting lineup to the pavilion in the fourth Test at the Kennington Oval in London. At one point in time in the first innings, the Brits were tottering at 62/5 with a trail of 129 runs. However, Ollie Pope’s 81 and Chris Woakes’ 50 led the hosts to a first innings lead of 99 runs.

Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali also chipped in with handy scores in the 30s. The hosts made a comeback after Pope and Bairstow stitched together a partnership of 89 runs for the sixth wicket. Thereafter, Moeen and Pope’s 71-run stand took England way past India’s first innings score.

Umesh said that the Indian bowlers leaked runs due to which the English batters found momentum. The speedster admitted that his team failed to turn the screws after getting the Three Lions on the mat in the ongoing encounter.

We failed to keep things tight: Umesh Yadav

“You can say that. The way we started our bowling – we took two wickets within the first 40 minutes. After that, I thought our performance dipped as we leaked around 40 runs in seven or eight overs,” Umesh told in a virtual press conference.

“As a result, the batsman also returned to the flow and found a rhythm. With the ball not seaming or spinning, the batsmen will look to assert their authority. We also made mistakes as we failed to keep things tight after those two wickets, conceding too many runs in the middle phase. Otherwise, India came back strongly by understanding how to bowl,” he stated.

Umesh also reckoned that the pitch has changed character with the progression of the encounter. However, he sounded confident that the Indian batters have every chance of putting forward a decent batting show in the second innings of the match.

“Definitely. The first-day pitch had moisture, bounce. But as the match goes on, it all changes. I think when they batted and we bowled, the track changed. But we think the way our batsmen are playing, they will do well and make a big score on this pitch,” Umesh added.

After two days of play, India are trailing by 56 runs in their second innings with all their 10 wickets in hand.