India pace bowler Mohammed Shami may have been missing the ongoing fourth Test between India and England but fans at The Oval on the second day ensured he remained in the spotlight even if it was for a moment.
The right-arm pacer, who was left out of the ongoing Test due to a niggle, celebrated his 31st birthday on Friday and a section of the crowd comprising Indian fans celebrated it with a cake.
The fans asked Shami to cut the cake to which the pace bowler obliged.
Nice gesture from Shami, cutting the cake as he celebrated his birthday with an Indian fan in the ground. pic.twitter.com/t2k5iC26a1
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 3, 2021
The right-armer has played the first three Tests of the series and taken 11 wickets. His best haul of the series -- 4/95 -- came in the third Test at Headingley, Leeds.
He also picked a four-wicket haul -- 4/76 -- in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in June.
He is just five wickets short of completing 200 Test wickets. If he does so, he will be only the fifth Indian pacer to get to the milestone.
Meanwhile, Indian bowlers bundled England on 290 in their first innings as the hosts lead visitors by 99 in the fourth Test against India at the Kennington Oval on Friday.
Things looked pretty grim in the morning session when they were struggling at 62/5, but the middle and lower middle-order batsmen stitched some useful partnerships to help England bounce back from that situation.
Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes mixed caution with aggression as they contributed vital 50s. The last-wicket stand just extended things for a little bit longer than Virat Kohli and his troops would have liked.
Initially, it was the partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Pope that steadied the ship, and then it were the contributions from Pope and Woakes that helped England stretch that lead closer to the 100-run mark.
Thakur took the all-important wicket of Pope after which Ravindra Jadeja bowled Ollie Robinson (5). Pope went back pavilion after scoring a gritty 81. Woakes then stepped up and scored a quick 50 before getting run out.
Off the action, Daniel Jarvis -- also known as Jarvo 69 -- invaded the pitch again on the second day of the ongoing fourth Test. The incident took place during the 34th over of the England innings which was being bowled by Umesh Yadav and the match had to be halted for five minutes.
Brief Scores: India 191; England 290 (Pope 81, Woakes 50; Umesh 3/76)
