IND vs ENG | Shardul Thakur is not going to be effective in English conditions, reckons Michael Holding

Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav replaced Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, who picked niggle injuries. After England restricted India to a paltry 190-run total in the first innings of the fourth Test at Oval, India responded with early wickets of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed in the second innings. But, the half-centuries from Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes helped England to claim a 99-run lead against the visitors. Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav impressed everyone with their quality bowling as they troubled the English batsman by clinching five early wickets when the hosts were at 62.

However, Shardul Thakur, who earlier displayed an exuberant show with the willow, could not create the same impact with the ball in the second innings. At the end of the innings, Thakur finished  with figures of 1/54, after he clinched the wicket of Ollie Pope (81) who was cruising to a three-digit score. However, former West Indies pacer, Michael Holding was disappointed with Thakur's performance with the ball as he failed to put pressure upon the England batsmen.

"What disappointed me after the first hour was the fact that they didn't have anyone to continue the pressure – Thakur came in and bowled but he's not the type that is going to get wickets like Bumrah and Yadav. There just wasn't anything there and he's just not going to be very effective under these conditions," Holding said on Sky Sports.

Holding lauded Umesh Yadav for his impressive bowing against the hosts by scalping three crucial wickets. Yadav clinched the wicket of Joe Root (21), the leading run-scorer of the series, and Dawid Malan (31), who looked promising with the bat. The former West Indies cricketer stated that he did not expect much from Yadav, but the bowler scalped important wickets of the hosts.

"Yadav surprised me a little bit because I didn't expect him to be a little bit more effective than Bumrah and I think he did. Bumrah bowled some fantastic deliveries and both of them showed pretty good control."