India registers first Test win at Oval after 50 years

India’s bowlers produced a sensational effort on the final day of the fourth Test to end a 50-year wait for victory at the iconic Oval ground on Monday. India’s only previous win at the London venue of the first-ever Test played 141 years ago was in 1971 when they clinched a historic first series in England. India’s victory over England at the Oval on Monday helped them take a decisive 2-1 lead with just one match left in the five-Test series.

India’s crushing 157-run win over England, taking all 10 second innings wickets on the last day to dismiss the hosts for 210, gave the visitors a 2-1 lead. It ensures India will at least draw the series. England began the final day needing 291 to win with openers Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns at the crease. However, India chipped away on a flat wicket to wrap up a convincing win and take a 2-1 lead in the five-Test series. The last Test is at Old Trafford. India’s last Test win at the venue came all the way back in 1971, when BS Chandrasekhar dismissed John Price to take his sixth wicket of England’s second innings and ensured that Ajit Wadekar’s team won the Test by four wickets. It was the first time ever that an Indian team had beat England in their own backyard in Test cricket and it also marked India’s first Test series win in the country. India first played at the Oval – the oldest international stadium in England – in 1936 and lost the Test by nine wickets. India has drawn a Test at the venue on seven occasions (1946, 1952, 1979, 1982, 1990, 2002 and 2007). It had also lost on its three previous Tours in 2018, 2014 and 2011.

Not only India, but England also could not beat India at the Oval with the next five matches played between the two teams ending in draw. The hosts finally beat India at the Oval in 2011 when MS Dhoni’s team lost by an innings and eight runs, thus sealing a 4-0 loss in the four-match series. India then crashed to a defeat by an innings and 244 runs in the next Test in 2014 before losing by 118 runs in what was former England captain Alastair Cook’s last international match in 2018.