The third Test match at Trent Bridge between England and India has fast tilted in the favor of the visitors. England had won the toss and Joe Root had put India in to bat first and has regretted the decision since then.
India started the day two on 307/6 with Rishabh Pant still at the crease. However, Stuart Broad removed Pant (24), and Ashwin (14) to trigger the end of Indian innings. James Anderson cleaned the tail and India was bowled out for 329.
James Anderson (3/64), Stuart Board (3/72) and Chris Woakes (3/75) shared the wickets amongst them, with Rashid picking the lone wicket of Virat Kohli.
England openers Alastair Cook (29) and Keaton Jennings (20) took on the Indian bowlers and England went to lunch at 46/0 in 9 overs. After lunch, Ishant Sharma removed Cook and Bumrah got Jennings, both caught by Rishabh Pant. Pant had a brilliant time behind the stumps as he became the first Asian keeper to take five catches on debut during the innings.
Root was caught, albeit controversially for 16 by Rahul off Pandya and Pope scored 10 as Sharma had him caught by Pant. Mohammad Shami removed Stokes for 10, caught by Rahul and Pandya had Bairstow dismissed in the same fashion for 15.
Pandya completed his maiden fifer in Tests by removing Woakes, Rashid, and Broad. He completed his fifer in one spell of 29 balls. Jos Buttler meanwhile went into T20 mode and scored 39 runs in 32 balls before Bumrah had him caught by substitute Shardul Thakur.
England was bowled out for 161 runs in 38.2 overs and gave India a lead of 168 runs. Hardik Pandya picked 5/28 and Ishant (2/32) and Bumrah (2/37) supported him wonderfully fell.
India knew that they had put on a mountain of runs to put the long England batting under pressure. KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan went after the bad balls and India had a quick start with 50 runs coming in 8.2 overs.
Ben Stokes picked the first wicket, that of KL Rahul (36 in 33 balls; 7x4s) with India’s score on 60. India marched on with Pujara also scoring at a healthy rate and Alastair Cook giving Dhawan a life by dropping him when he was at 34 off Woakes.
However, Dhawan didn’t take full advantage of the life given to him, as he was stumped by Bairstow off Rashid for 44 off 63 balls with 6 fours. England will probably find themselves lucky to pick two wickets by the close of day two.
Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, who went back to his usual self after the initial turbo burst, kept the England bowlers at bay and ended the day on 124/2 and with a lead of 292 runs.
BRIEF SCORES:
INDIA 329 & 124/2 (S DHAWAN 44; KL RAHUL 36) and ENGLAND 161 (J BUTTLER 39; H PANDYA 5/28)
India leads by 292 runs with 8 wickets remaining
