England Vs India 1st Test, Day 3 Review

It was expected that the pitch would swing dramatically in either side’s favour in the first Test of the India and England.

Cricket news: A 14-wicket day sees Kohli stand as a rock again as he is the key to a successful chase

But at the end of the third day it is the hosts who still has the upper end on the visitors despite the fact that the opposition captain Virat Kohli is still in the crease.

However the hosts would not have been in a dominating position had Sam Curran taken the role of the liberator and took the match to a competitive zone.

Curran came out to bat when his team was completely in tatters at 86/6 and it soon became 87/7 when Ishant Sharma dismissed Jos Buttler.

It was then Curran and Adil Rashid who started forming the partnership which denied India a wicket for almost 15 overs.

The partnership became a frustrating one and it did not help the cause with dropped catches in the slip. Curran was dropped on 13 by Shikhar Dhawan and a few overs later Dhawan dropped Rashid off Umesh’s delivery.

While Rashid’s drop did not hurt as much as Curran’s did as after Rashid’s dismissal, the 20-year-old hit Ravi Ashwin for a six and a four in consecutive deliveries.

Ashwin was removed from the attack but the onslaught continued as Curran brought his maiden half-century by hitting a maximum of Ishant’s delivery, who was the best bowler for India.

Ultimately the lanky bowler took his revenge who took the game from 87/7 to 180, which meant India will have to chase a target of 194 as England had a 13-runs lead in the first innings.

With the start of the second innings for India, the batsmen needed to show their grit once again. They managed to fend off the new ball for five overs but then Stuart Broad found the pads of Murali Vijay.

Dhawan’s poor form continued as he nicked one to the slips. KL Rahul and Rahane disappointed again as India slipped to 63/4 while Ashwin succumbed to Anderson’s swing to make it 78/5.

It was Captain Kohli who rose to the occasion again and he got the support from wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik as both of them ended the day on 110/5.

At the start of the day India had a brief advantage with Ashwin taking the wickets of both Keaton Jennings and Joe Root. After that Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan started forming a partnership, but Ishant started his dream spell who took 5 wickets in the innings.

Bairstow edged one of Ishant’s delivery in the 31st over which was caught by Dhawan at first slip and one ball later Ben Stokes nicked one at Kohli in the slips.

Lunch was called then and after the resume of the game he took the wicket of Buttler and left England in deep trouble. It was then a 20-year-old lad who took the game away to a competitive zone and the visitors are trying to chase it down.

Brief Scores

England 287 (J Root 80, J Bairstow 70; R Ashwin 4/62) & 180 (S Curran 63; I Sharma 5/51)

India 274 (V Kohli 149; S Curran 4/74) & 110/5 (V Kohli 43*; S Broad 2/29)

State of the match: India need 84 runs to win.