In what has been a see-saw battle between the two top heavyweights. The visitors once again managed to make an impressive comeback to take a dominating 2-1 lead in the 5-match Test series.
The Men in blue were left devastated after a thrashing inning lost to the hosts and to the number 78 would have been haunting the dressing room ever since. However, Virat Kohli and Co. once again showed the importance of the mind game in this sport, and with the help of Rohit Sharma's first overseas century and Shardul Thakur's twin fifties and brilliance ball, India managed to come out victorious at the Kennington Oval.
Cricwizz, today takes a look at the unique numbers and records that were shattered during the fourth Test.
#95
The veteran spearhead James Anderson once again managed to get into the record books, this time for playing by overhauling the tally of Sachin Tendulkar to become the player to have played the most number of Test matches at home. With 95 Tests under his belt, Anderson is well on route to becoming the first player to have played 100 home Tests.
List of players with most Test matches at home
| Player | Country | Matches |
| James Anderson | England | 95* |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 94 |
| Ricky Ponting | Australia | 92 |
| Alastair Cook/ Steve Waugh | England/ Australia | 89 |
#23,000
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli might be struggling to find his top form and the two consecutive fifties would have been a great booster for the skipper. However, despite his rough patch, the 32-year old has been ensuring he keeps ticking the record books.
The Right-hander raced away to 23,000 international runs in his 490th innings during the 4th Test against England and became the first player to reach the milestone in under 500 innings.
23K and counting...@imVkohli | #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/l0oVhiIYP6
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 2, 2021
Fastest to 23,000 international runs
| Player | Country | Innings |
| Virat Kohli | India | 490 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 522 |
| Ricky Ponting | Australia | 544 |
| Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 551 |
#1
The explosive Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who has always been criticized for being a home ground bully, once again proved the critics wrong by scoring a clinical century during the second innings which in turn earned him the Man of the Match award. This was the first overseas century from the bat of Rohit Sharma and given his form in recent times it is very likely that we will be witnessing quite a few daddy knocks.
#100
India's leading pacer Jasprit Bumrah was on song as his crucial 6-over spell in the fourth innings was rather the game-changing moment. The moment the Indian side discovered that the ball was reversing the ball was seen in the hands of Bumrah and his pinpoint yorkers to remove Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope ensured the game was sealed in favor of India.
Jasprit Bumrah became the fastest Indian pacer to 100 Test wickets at The Oval on day five of the #ENGvIND Test 🔥
— ICC (@ICC) September 7, 2021
More on his stunning performance 👇
Bumrah also managed to claim his 100th Test wicket by breaching the gates of Ollie Pope and the 27-year old now stands to be the fastest Indian pacer to claim 100 Test wickets. Any guesses on the fastest Indian bowler to achieve the feat? Yes, it is the foxy all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.
2007
The last time team India managed to win a Test series in England was way back in the year 2007 under the leadership of former Indian batting maestro Rahul Dravid. Even a stalemate in the 5th Test could mean that India will register a series win after a long wait of 14 years. Can Virat Kohli and Men keep the hosts in check? Or will England bounce back once again in their backyard?
#3000
Rohit Sharma became only the 23rd Indian player to score over 3000 runs in the longest format. The 34-year old was unfortunately kept out of the longest format for an extended period of his career and the Indian management would be kicking themselves on their poor judgment. The Hitman seems well-focused now and is certain to be a great commodity in the longest format too for India.
Rohit Sharma stats
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike-rate |
| Test | 43 | 3047 | 47 | 55.47 |
| ODI | 227 | 9205 | 49 | 89 |
| T20I | 111 | 2864 | 32.18 | 139 |
Did you know?
Rohit Sharma has played the most matches for India in the T20I format (111), the next highest being former Indian skipper MS Dhoni with 98 matches to his name.
#31
Indian middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara played a valuable knock in the second innings as his partnership along with Rohit Sharma of 153 runs for the second wicket turned out to be the decisive one. In the process, Pujara also notched up 49th score of 50 plus in the longest format and he now shares the elite list of Indians to have scored fifties on 30 plus occasions in red-ball cricket.
#152
The 33-year old pace machine Umesh Yadav too was among the wickets as the English batsmen fell helplessly to the pace of the Indian, something which we see rarely. Umesh Yadav became only the 16th Indian to pick 150 plus wickets in the longest format and is now just five wickets away from overtaking S Venkataraghavan’s tally of 156 wickets.
A clinical by team India means that in the worst case they will go back leveling the series. However, that would not be the plan of the Indian skipper and team who have been in tremendous form over the last couple of years. Will India look to settle for a draw? Or should they finish off in style?
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