India v England, 3rd Test, Day 1 Review: India chip away with late wickets to gain advantage

A late strike from Umesh Yadav and some appreciable spin bowling performance from the Indian spin bowling trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Yadav saw India gain control of the match after England middle order showed some appreciable resistance with the bat.

The momentum swung from one to the other session wise, The first session saw India go completely on top of England whille the second session saw the middle order bring back their team to the contest before the Indians made a comeback in the last session by taking important wickets.

India struck quite frequently in the first innings and put England in a bothersome situation. Off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav and fast bowlers Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami snapped one wicket each to make sure Indian headed back to lunch on a highly productive note. England’s decision to bat first on a drier Mohali track backfired after the Indian bowling unit sent back the top four of the English batting order back to the pavilion in the 28 over of play in the first session.

After starting in their usual steady manner, England lost their first wicket in the 10th over when Haseeb Hameed gloved one off Umesh Yadav to Ajinkya Rahane at gully. Hameed did all the right things to survive the testing spell from Yadav. The varied bounce looked like a concern early on and eventually caused the teenagers departure after his humble attempt to nudge forward and defend turned into a catch after the ball kicked off the surface. He could do nothing but to look at the pitch and walk back.

Cook and Root also could not stay together for long. They promised to take the innings further but spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Jayant Yadav wrecked their intentions of revival with strikes in back to back overs, making both the top players of spin back to the hut.

Ashwin was the first to strike in the 15th over, getting better of Cook. India was lucky, to be honest. It wasn’t a great delivery and Cook can be blamed for poor shot selection, trying to cut a short and wide delivery unnecessarily and edging it to the keeper. The following over brought more delight after Yadav managed to trap Root leg before to bring Indian right on the top. Like icing on the cake, the session got sweeter for India after Ali miscued a bouncer off Shami and was caught at fine leg just a couple of overs before the break.

Coming into the post-lunch session England two most reliable batsman in recent times, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes combined and revived the innings. The second session of the day totally belonged to the visitors who batted out amazingly to finish at 205/5. While a lapse of patience led to Stokes premature dismissal, Bairstow showed no weakness and played a big role and remained unbeaten on 66.

Indian bowlers had pushed England to the wall in the first innings. The loss of Cook and Root, in particular, were huge setbacks. However, the trusted Bairstow – Stokes pair yet again brought stability to English batting with their 57 runs stand for the  5th wicket. The Indian bowler put under the grill for close to 18 over before Jadeja forced Stokes to leap out of the crease and got him stumped. This was the only success India tasted in the bygone session.

Bairstow remained unmoved and had the counter attacking Jos Buttler for support at the other end. The pair played out the entire session with ease, putting together an unbeaten 71 runs stand for the 6th wicket. Given the ease with which they batted, the duo is expected to grind the Indians further. And, perhaps England will also be hoping for the same.

The last session saw England lose their track a bit. Indian made a good comeback in the session. the credit should go to Jayant Yadav and Umesh Yadav, of course. The right arm fast bowler, reaped the rewards for his disciplined line to line bowling strategy when he managed to get better of Chris Woakes late in the day.

Jadeja struck quickly after the break, taking the wicket of Buttler who fell short of his fifty by 7 runs. His false wasn’t expected given the way he batted out the Indian spinners in the earlier session. Woakes then provided a good support to Bairstow as the duo carried the innings forward. It was an alarming sight for the Indians to see Woakes and Bairstow smoothly rotate strikes and build their stand. Especially, Bairstow, who seems to have found a liking for the Indian bowling attack. Despite timely strikes, India was yet gain a dominating position.

But, soon the happiest moment of the day arrived when Bairstow committed an error by lunging forward to defend a turning delivery from Jayant Yadav. The off-spinner beat his defence and successfully trapped him lbw to give the most important breakthrough of the day. Yadav then snapped a bonus wicket of Woakes to give a perfect ending to a hard fought day of cricket for India.

Brief Scores: 

England: 268/8 (Jonny Bairstow 89; Jayant Yadav 2/49)