Chris Woakes made an immediate impact on his return to Test cricket, dismissing Rohit Sharma with the final ball of his first over in the format in over a year.

Due to a combination of injury and England’s rest and rotation policy, Woakes – one of the stars of the 2020 English Test summer – had gone over a year without a Test appearance going into the Oval Test. Bowling first change, Woakes brought England a much-needed early breakthrough after Joe Root opted to insert India into bat on a murky first morning.

Woakes extracted more movement in the air than his teammates from the get-go. His sixth delivery, the one to dismiss Rohit, was just back of length, bounced sharply and moved away from the in-form India opener who could only edge it behind to an obliging Jonny Bairstow.

That wicket set the tone for what was to follow as England restricted the flow of runs and picked up two more wickets in the morning session with Ollie Robinson and James Anderson accounting for KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara respectively.

You can watch Chris Woakes’ day one dismissal of Rohit Sharma below:

🧙‍♂️#ENGvINDpic.twitter.com/m7dZdXefKU

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) September 2, 2021