CHRIS Woakes marked his first Test in over a year with 4-55 as England rolled India for 191 – only to then lose the in-form Joe Root for 21 as they closed an absorbing day one of the fourth Test at The Kia Oval on 53-3.

Woakes was named England’s Player of the Summer for 2020 with his excellent form including 17 wickets in five Tests at an average below 21 – but a combination of injury, Covid quarantine and rotation meant the seamer had not played a red-ball international since.

The 32-year-old returned in style after replacing Sam Curran in the England XI, dismissing Rohit Sharma (11) with his sixth delivery, removing Ravindra Jadeja (10) and Rishabh Pant (9), and then ending a blistering knock from India No 8 Shardul Thakur (57 off 36), who smashed three sixes and seven fours to lift India from 127-7.

Thakur’s 31-ball fifty was the fastest-ever in a Test in England, beating Sir Ian Botham’s 32-ball effort against New Zealand, also at The Oval, in 1986.

Umesh Yadav – who had been at the other end as Thakur dominated an eighth-wicket stand of 63 from 48 balls – then picked up the prize scalp of England captain Root before stumps, bowling the new top-ranked Test batsman in the world between bat and pad with a beauty.

Jasprit Bumrah earlier accounted for openers Rory Burns (5) and Haseeb Hameed (0) to reduce England to 6-2 – the former dragging onto his stumps off an inside edge and the latter caught behind on the cut for a 12-ball duck – while Dawid Malan (26no) and nightwatchman Craig Overton (1no) ended the day at the crease, with the hosts trailing by 138.

India captain Virat Kohli (50) – dropped by Root off Woakes on 22 – was the only visiting batsman bar Thakur to pass 17 as his side followed a paltry first-innings score of 78 during their innings-and-76-run defeat in the third Test in Leeds with another lowly total, the away side rolled in 61.3 overs amid some patchy England catching,

Ollie Robinson (3-38) was the man to claim Kohli’s wicket as the batsman’s sequence without a Test hundred extended to 20 innings, with his previous ton coming against Bangladesh in Kolkata in November 2019.

That will frustrate Kohli, as will the majority of his side’s batting, but he will be buoyed by the fightback with the ball and especially the fact that Root, who has scored six Test centuries in 2021 and three in as many matches against India this summer, has been banished. (Sky Sports)