England still have hopes of winning this game.
This prognosis is based on their fourth innings exploits over the last three years; and the fact that India galloped to 321 runs in 70 overs, suggesting the wicket isn't particularly tricky.
However, the big difference from Leeds in June this year, or Birmingham in 2022, is that this track still has plenty of juice.
Mohammed Siraj will sleep tight -- his final act of the day, performed with great cunning and skill, will ensure that.
With just two balls to be bowled in the day, Siraj performed a perfect act of deception on Zak Crawley, England's first-innings top-scorer. Siraj placed a man close to the deep square-leg boundary, the man at mid-on was asked to go a bit wide -- all signs that a bouncer was on the way.
Siraj, though, delivered a perfect yorker -- Crawley, fooled, was too late in bringing the bat down, and the ball bent his off-stump.
Siraj leapt up in the air, arms aloft, screaming his heart out, for his plan has worked perfectly.
India had their first wicket -- England ended the day at 50/1 in 13.5 overs, which seems infinitely better, from the Indian perspective, than 50/0 in 14 overs.
Crawley's wicket puts India slightly ahead as the hosts chase a massive 374 for victory. England must overhaul a very old record if they are to win this game -- the highest successful chase at The Oval took place in 1902, when England scored 263 in the fourth innings to defeat Australia.
But don't let that stat fool you -- it's no longer the 20th century, for one; for another, this England team has built its madcap Bazball strategy around chasing targets. Since mid-2022, when Brendon McCullum joined hands with Ben Stokes to start an era of extremely violent batting, six times have England chased targets upward of 250 to win Tests.
The biggest of these chases took place only a few weeks ago when they overhauled 371 against India at Leeds; incredibly, they lost only five wickets in the process.
They effected a bigger chase against India at Birmingham in 2022, racking up 378, for only three wickets, in 76.4 overs, smashing runs at close to five an over. Such feats had been unheard of, and they have been made commonplace by the flatter wickets England have favoured in the last three years.
So, England must not be counted out, for they may yet win the series 3-1 -- but Siraj's brilliant yorker, which sent the Bharat Army men into drunken delirium, gives India hope.
Siraj has bowled his heart out in this series -- 159.1 overs in nine innings, assuming the leadership role and performing it perfectly when Jasprit Bumrah has been absent. India need one final lionhearted effort from him to win the game; he must do what has made him the leading bowler, with 19 wickets, in the series -- he must direct the ball at the wicket, and he must make it bend into the batter's pads or wickets off the track.
England had the worst of the exchanges on the second day in a row -- Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his second century of the series, and Akash Deep, the nightwatchman, spanked them for an entertaining 66 off 94 balls.
Finally, Washington Sunder, batting with the No. 11 Prasidh Krishna, struck four steepling sixers in his 53 off 46 as the final pair added 39 priceless runs, of which Krishna's contribution was a very round figure of 0.
England were butter-fingered, too -- they dropped six catches, four times off Jaiswal. No wonder the India opener said that though there was spice in the wicket, he enjoyed himself very well, thank you very much.
But the funny part is that England still have hopes of winning this game. This prognosis is based on their fourth innings exploits over the last three years; and the fact that India galloped to 321 runs in 70 overs on Saturday, suggesting the wicket isn't particularly tricky.
However, the big difference from Leeds in June this year, or Birmingham in 2022, is that this track still has plenty of juice; the ball is leaping unpredictably off the good-length area -- the blow that Ben Duckett suffered on his hand late in the day off Krishna was caused by one such ball. Two, Indian batters prospered today due to very sloppy bowling, and equally sloppy fielding, by England.
Siraj, in an interview on Saturday morning, said that he struggles to sleep well after a day when he thinks he hasn't given it his all -- on Saturday he gave it his all, and he must do that on Sunday as well to keep India's hope of victory, and drawn series, alive.