Cook's century puts England into a commanding position against India in the 5th Test match

England set India a victory target of 464 runs after declaring their second innings at 423 for 8 in the fifth and final Cricket Test at the Oval in London yesterday. Chasing the target, India were 58 for 3 at stumps on the 4th Day. 

The visitors either have to score 406 runs to win the Test or have to play the entire day today for a draw. India had a bad start as they were 2 for 3 at one point. Thanks to KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane who stitched together a 56-run partnership to steady the Indian innings. Rahul made 46 while Rahane Playing at 10 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara and  Virat Kohli both were got out for a duck while Shikhar Dhawan scored just one. 

Earlier, Alastair Cook's fairytale



farewell knock and Joe Root's classy hundred enabled England to pile more misery on the visitors during the penultimate day. Cook made dogged 147 off 286 balls in his final knock while skipper Root roared back to form scoring 125 as the duo shared 259-run stand. Cook became only the fifth batsman in Test cricket history to score hundreds in his first and last Tests. 

England have already taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. 

After concluding this tour, team India will be taking part in the six-nation Asia Cup 2018  starting in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from Saturday. The ICC has granted ODI status to all the Asia Cup matches.