Indian summer bows out with one final hurrah

SAM MORSHEAD AT THE OVAL: We’ve been treated to the Veruca Salt experience in 2018, not left wanting for anything, everything on the menu, just like dear old Mr Creosote. And yet, somehow, still room for a wafer-thin mint

^{England beat India by 118 runs}

The Kia Oval (final day of five): England 332 & 423-8d, India 292 & 345 - England won by 118 runs

Stay now, summer. Don’t go. Don’t leave us.

As the light slowly dimmed on the Kia Oval on Tuesday, and the remnants of an extraordinary season with it, it proved difficult to say goodbye.

Maybe it is greedy to ask for more, to still be desperate for another helping at the end of a four-month cricketing feast.

But when you are spoiled and spoiled and spoiled some more, how is it possible not to get used to a life of luxury?

After all, we’ve been treated to the Veruca Salt experience in 2018, not left wanting for anything - the bombast of a limited-overs demolition of Australia, the intrigue of Pakistan, the fervour of thrill-a-minute white-ball drama and then this magnificent Test series, all set against a backdrop of searing sun.

^{Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul both hit centuries on Tuesday}

Everything on the menu, just like dear old Mr Creosote.

And yet, somehow, still room for a wafer-thin mint.

On the final afternoon of a superlative-laden season came another example of elite cricket being played at its most unpredictable. It was not enough for The Oval to have given us Alastair Cook’s epic farewell and Jimmy Anderson drawing level with Glenn McGrath, and the memories that will last a lifetime. Oh no.

Instead, there was one more story to tell. One more treat to be enjoyed. One more course to be served.

To mention out loud the notion that India even stood a chance of reaching respectability at two for three on Monday evening would have been enough to be booked in for a straight jacket fitting. Yet there they were, just under 24 hours later, threatening a seismic victory the likes of which Test cricket has never seen.

Ultimately, it did not arrive - that would, it turns out, be too much to ask of whoever it is that writes these edge-of-your-seat scripts - but in getting close the tourists conjured up yet another memorable spectacle.

KL Rahul, a wonderfully elegant batsman blessed with the gift of tremendous timing, and the similarly talented yet altogether very different Rishabh Pant defied their hosts, and the idea that momentum has any relevance to sport as a whole, to put on a double century stand that for a while threatened the annals of history.

^{Pant hits a one-handed six}

Coming together at 121 for five, after Ajinkya Rahane had scooped a mis-timed sweep to midwicket off Moeen Ali and Hanuma Vihari was dismissed for a duck by Ben Stokes, the two batted 44-and-a-half overs in compiling a partnership of 204 in the chase of 464.

Rahul, the more sophisticated of the pair, switched effortlessly between aggression and conservatism, slapping 14 off one Ben Stokes over to move to three figures just before lunch before slowing his scoring rate to a crawl as Pant took over in the run-up to tea.

The young wicketkeeper, as precocious a batsman as you’re likely to find on the Test circuit, took a liking to pace being taken off the ball by the England attack and accelerated towards his first ton in India whites, slapping 89 from the afternoon session alone.

He became The Oval’s youngest Test centurion by planting Adil Rashid down the ground for six - a near identical shot to that which got him off the mark in Test cricket - and was soon exploring the array of strokes which have made him such a hot property in the Indian Premier League.

The talk at tea, when 166 more were needed, was all about the chances of this extraordinary series being granted an extraordinary finale.

Sadly, it was not to be.

Rahul was furious with himself when eventually he was out, bowled off stump by a Rashid delivery which pitched a good foot-and-a-half outside leg, while Pant struggled to tear himself from the wicket two overs later when he picked out Moeen in the deep.

Sam Curran followed up with two quick wickets before Anderson took centre stage, sending Mohammed Shami's bails flying to become the leading wicket-taker among seamers in all Test cricket.

Because, with this series, there's always another tale to tell.