The scoreline suggests a rather comprehensive win for England, but then they do not always tell you the truth. India has been great competition in the series and their bowlers have been superb and have posed plenty of questions for the England batsmen.
Few more contributions from the batsmen and the result of the series would have been entirely different. The biggest positive for India has been the irresistible form of the seamers. They have all bowled fast, they've all been accurate, and they have been relentless. Of the 82 wickets taken by Indian bowlers in this five-Test series, the pacers have accounted for 61 — Ishant (18), Shami (16), Jasprit Bumrah (14), Hardik Pandya (10) and Umesh Yadav (3).
Shami was unlucky in the test
Shami was the pick of the bowlers at Oval, but he just could not get the rewards. He beat the bat umpteen number of times in the first innings and then again was persistent in the second, but his figures do no do justice to his efforts.
"Luck is also a factor," he conceded after Monday, September 10 play.
"When you bowl with the new ball, your first priority is line and length. Luck also determines whether you get a wicket or not, but it is definitely frustrating. I say unlucky because I beat the bat so many times. It's okay, you have to accept it," he added.
India went in with four regular bowlers and this made life even more difficult for the seamers who had to keep running in even as England motored along on the fourth day. For all their resilience, day 4 was one of hard toil.
"It's tough when you are a bowler short as the load will be higher. But it's (Ishant's injury) not that serious. It happens sometimes, when a bowler feels discomfort he leaves the field to prevent aggravating the injury. It's all about the understanding among us bowlers, that we can do it even if we are a bowler short," he said.
The Bengal pacer also said that he watched a lot of videos of Broad and Anderson to understand how to bowl in these conditions and this really helped him execute his plans. He further conceded that the entire bowling group was confident about getting the job done right from the first test.
