India v England, 3rd Test, Day 2 Review: India finishes 12 runs short of deficit

Crucial strikes from leg-spinner Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes in the last session enabled England to claw back into the contest. India looked steady till the tea session and cautiously played out the first two sessions without inflicting any big damage. But, the hosts experienced a slump straight after the break which saw them getting reduced to 156/5 and later 204/6 after being sitting comfortably at 148/2 at the break.

India added 60 runs for the loss of Murali Vijay in the opening session of the day after Mohammad Shami chipped in with the last two English wickets to bowl them out for 283. It took India less than 4 over to wrap up the opposition as tail-enders Adil Rashid and Gareth Batty failed to cope with Shami who finished with 3 for 63.

India got off to a steady start in response amid a couple of dramatic scenes. The 6th over of the day saw the first instance which would perhaps have been a normal appeal and review if Kumar Dharamsena not spoken in a sort drunken manner.

Woakes went up for an optimistic appeal for a leg-side catch. Patel, the batsmen on strike, looked to flick the ball but failed in doing so and the ball ended up diverting the ball to the catcher off his hip. Erasmus, however, thought otherwise and agreed with the bowler to prompt Patel to go for the review which showed no impact with the bat. However, Kumar Dharmasena as the TV umpire erred while giving the confirmation to the on-field umpire, saying “No edge Marais, you can stay with your on-field decision” when he actually wanted to say the opposite of it. Erasmus, thankfully, doesn’t listen to him and does the right thing by changing his original decision of out.

India was happy giving the first session to the bowlers. The intention was definitely to just play out the first session and then get runs in the post-lunch. As expected Vijay opted to play in defensive mode and quite happy  defend, defend and defend until a loose deliveries came to score off, Patel played with slightly counter-attacking nature, trying to sneak in boundaries while rotating strikes.

But, English bowlers also maintained a sort of pressure on the duo and played tough. But, the breakthrough was yet to come and only came after Cook opted for a bowling change bringing in Ben Stokes who brought the breakthrough for England, snapping Vijay in his first over, thus ending the slow 39 runs opening wicket stand. Vijay, who was earlier given a life by Buttler off Moeen Ali’s bowling could not take full advantage of it.

The early wicket did not hurt India’s momentum much as Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara rallied Indian to the break without any further damage. The pair looked pretty comfortable but could not thrive for long in after the Lunch session.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid snapped the wicket of stubborn Patel to give England their second breakthrough. The ambitious appeal from the leggie was initially turned down. The umpire clearly had doubts in his mind as the left-hander advanced down the pitch to play the ball. England showed confidence and went for a review which eventually went in favour of the bowling side as the HawkEye showed that the ball was hitting on the stumps without any involvement of the bat. But, as it happened in the previous session also, India did not lose its momentum and smoothly played out the entire session without losing any further wicket. The credit for which should go to Pujara and Virat Kohli.

English bowlers, however, scripted a big turnaround in the last session. Rashid snapped two wickets immediately after the break; sending back Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Ben Stokes added the all-important wicket of Virat Kohli while debutant Karun Nair saw himself getting run out as India experienced a mini-collapse. It looked very dangerous at that time. But, Ravichandran Ashwin (57*) once again proved to be the saviour and led the revival efforts. His compatriot Ravindra Jadeja (31) played the supporting act and formed an unbeaten 67 runs for the seventh wicket to help India finish 12 runs short of the getting a lead over England first innings total of 283.

Brief Scores: 

England: 283 all out (Jonny Bairstow 89; Mohammad Shami 3/63)

India: 271/6 (Virat Kohli 62; Adil Rashid 3/21)