IND vs ENG Live Updates: Trial by fire for debutant captain Shubman Gill, 1st Test comes down to dramatic Day 5

IND vs ENG Live Updates, India vs England Test Series Day 5: Jasprit Bumrah will be India’s key weapon of destruction as they look for 10 English wickets.

England are 21/0 overnight, preventing any early damage in a brief 6-over burst from India in the fading light of Day 4. Openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett negotiated that tricky phase of play. India won’t be too concerned: Jasprit Bumrah will be refreshed and raring to go with the still-fresh Dukes ball. What Bumrah will need if he wants to lead India to success are contributions from Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj. If India can get these three working in tandem, then memories of the Oval 2021 will resurface, and Shubman Gill, in an impressive captaincy debut thus far, will have the phrase ‘60 overs of Hell’ echoing in his head.

Conversely, England’s inspiration for day 5 will also be found in the recent past. At this venue, in 2019, with Ben Stokes’ late heroics to seal a match in the Ashes. Against this team, at Edgbaston in 2022, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root stitching together a partnership for the ages en route to England’s largest successful chase ever. Two examples of hauling down totals well in excess of 300, that the team will take a lot of confidence from. 

Day 5 will bring plenty of memories of those iconic matches as the match winds down, and there are bound to be plenty of swings of momentum in this game. A couple of quick wickets for India at any stage, and they will feel on top. Any sort of substantial partnership for England, and young Shubman Gill will feel the heat on him in pursuit of this win. Jasprit Bumrah will be his key go-to option, on a deteriorating pitch in what are expected to be overcast conditions, but Bumrah can’t be the only person that Gill can feel comfortable turning towards. England’s ambition will be to hold off Bumrah for as long as possible, as brilliant as he is, and put the pressure back onto the thus-far underperforming players surrounding him.

The table is set for a thrill-a-minute game on the final day of the first match of the series, and the importance cannot be downplayed: both teams have played excellently and stayed alive in this match as a contest. Whoever plays the most consistent good cricket today — and for India, that will mean catching and fielding well, sticking to plans — will likely be the victor. In Test cricket, just the way a match should be decided, coming down to the very last day after four full days of excellence.