England will need to rewrite the record books with another spectacular chase after India left them chasing a mammoth 374 in the series deciding fifth Rothesay Test.
The ground record at the Kia Oval stands at 263 and has stood since 1902 and an already epic challenge became even more difficult when Zak Crawley was cleaned up by a perfect Mohammed Siraj yorker with the last act of day three.
Crawley and Ben Duckett chalked up the half-century before that last-gasp sucker punch, leaving 324 still to get with England closing on 50 for one.
Yet a fearless England do not have far to look for inspiration, having chased 373 for five at Headingley in the first match of this series and their highest ever, 378 for three, against the same opponents at Edgbaston in 2022.
That the target is so steep will still be a source of regret, India putting a patched up attack to the sword at several key moments. Yashasvi Jaiswal hit an unflappable 118 to lead the way, including a morale-crushing stand of 107 with nightwatcher Akash Deep in the morning session.
Deep’s colourful 66 was his highest score in any professional cricket and there was more pain to come from the bat of all-rounder Washington Sundar, who smashed four huge sixes in a late flurry worth 53 in 46 balls.
England dropped three more catches on the day, taking their tally to six for the innings, adding to the work of their weary three-pronged seam attack. With Chris Woakes unable to bowl due to a dislocated shoulder, a trio thrown together hastily this week due to the absence of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse were found wanting at times but kept charging in.
They got through 79 overs between them, Josh Tongue claiming five for 125, Gus Atkinson three for 127 and Jamie Overton managed two for 98.
The tourists were just 52 ahead and two down overnight but England were insipid in the opening session as they allowed India to add another 114 for the solitary wicket of Deep.
Having been sent up the order on Friday evening to shield his captain, Deep fully embraced his free hit. He began with a handful of agricultural slogs across the line, most of which went in his favour, and eventually graduated to steering the ball to third man with soft hands.
He should have been gone for 21, narrowly surviving Tongue’s lbw shout on umpire’s call and then edging the next delivery to third slip. But after a hat-trick of handling errors on day two, Crawley produced another as he failed to hold on.
Ollie Pope disappeared to the dressing room 40 minutes into the session, seemingly to seek advice from head coach Brendon McCullum, but India continued to progress as a flurry of steers and thick edges skimmed into the same gap between third slip and gully.
Deep passed fifty with three fours off the tiring Atkinson – showing off unexpected range with a square cut, an uppercut and a pull – but finally succumbed by popping a short ball from Overton to backward point.
Gill arrived at the crease needing 32 to beat Sunil Gavaskar’s national record of 774 runs in a series but fell for just 11 when Atkinson nailed him lbw with the first ball after lunch.
Dismissing the prolific skipper lifted English spirits, with Atkinson adding Karun Nair for 17 when he edged behind, but Jaiswal’s relentless march to the first hundred of the match dampened the enthusiasm.
He was put down on 20 and 40 earlier in his innings but moved serenely to a 127-ball ton before Duckett’s fumble at leg-slip gave him a third reprieve of the innings on 110. He ran out of lives when he slashed Tongue to deep third, with Overton the man to cling on, but a weary England had more problems to contend with.
India added another 123 for their last four batters, taking the target from awkward, to tough and all the way to fiendishly difficult. The most galling damage was done by Sundar, one of last week’s antagonist centurions at Old Trafford.
While protecting last man Prasidh Krishna he smashed a furious 53, with four massive sixes and four fours, before finally underhitting one off Tongue to complete his five-wicket haul.
Crawley and Pope both went for the catch, ending up in a tangle on the floor, but the former emerged with the ball safely pouched.
There was enough time for 14 overs before stumps and England’s top two did well to survive 13.4 of them before Siraj produced a magic ball to send India into day four with the wind in their sails.
