India vs England: Root masterclass, Ishant finds rhythm and other talking points from Day 3 of second Test
India vs England: Root masterclass, Ishant finds rhythm and other talking points from Day 3 of second Test
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Morning of Day 3 turned out to be frustrating for Indians as Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root stood firm throughout the session, putting pressure back on Indians. But just after lunch, Indians came back strongly to pick wickets, bringing the match in balance again. England were bowled out for 391 in the first innings and had a small lead of 27 runs over India at stumps.
Here are some of the major talking points on the third day of the second England vs India Test:
Joe Root keeps delivering
The Joe Root masterclass continues in England. He started his day unbeaten on 48 and there was no stopping for the England Test captain on Day 3 as well. He looked at ease and unperturbed by the Indian bowlers on a surface that had little to offer for the bowlers.
He brought up his fifty soon into Day 3 with a lovely cover drive and did not miss out on singles, doubles and even triples on offer, showing his fitness levels.
He flicked when he got it on pads, opened the face of the bat between gully and point for singles whenever the ball was short and wide and the fullish deliveries saw him playing those gorgeous cover drives. His forward press and defence with body behind the line of the ball showed he was commanding the proceedings,
What stands out in this series is how calm and relaxed he is while batting. Reached his second hundred in the lunch session and by the end of the day, he had crossed 9,000 Test runs for England.
To add more perspective to how good Root has been, check this Cricviz stat – Joe Root has faced 300+ deliveries in a Test innings on seven occasions. Four of them have been in 2021."
He deserved a double hundred but finished unbeaten at 180.
Ishant comes back strongly; Shami, Bumrah struggle
Ishant had looked listless in this Test, the long break from the game due to his injury not proving to be too fruitful. He took his time to regain his rhythm. Often he went too short at slow pace, showing glimpses of the Ishant of old, someone who was pelted for runs all around the park due to poor lengths.
He was again making the mistake of bowling too short, something which is on the never-to-do list for fast bowlers in England, giving ample of time to Root and Co to cut and steer him for boundaries. But in his third spell of the day, he came back strongly, to remove Jos Buttter, who looked out of sorts in his short stay.
Ishant kept on bowling the inswing to Buttler in one over. The second ball of this over nipped back in sharply but took the inside edge of the bat and deflected to pads. Ishant kept on trying the same plot and eventually on the last ball, Buttler was found on wrong foot, with a big gap between bat and pad, ball nipped back in sharply from the uncertain corridor, hit the top of off stump leading to a huge roar from the bowler which lasted a good 60 seconds. All the frustration of having not picked wickets so far was vented out. The fact that the wicket delivery was touching the 143kph mark tells you the effort Ishant was putting in.
Ishant later removed Moeen Ali and Sam Curran to finish with three wickets.
On the other hand, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah struggled throughout the day. Shami ended with a consolation wicket of James Anderson. Bumrah could not open his account after the super show in the opening Test. He, in fact, bowled 10 no-balls on Day 3, three no-balls in the same over twice.
Siraj on song
Siraj began his morning not in a convincing fashion, going all over the place in terms of length. It meant only one thing, he was overtrying and that was taking him nowhere. While he was looking to dart it into batters, his plan being right, but he had no control over the length, going fuller at times and giving easy runs on the leg side.
When he came back in the second session, he started off with shorter lengths. All six balls of his first over post lunch were of short lengths. He switched to round the stumps for Bairstow and bowled a barrage of well-directed bouncers with a short leg in place.
The plan clicked as on the fourth ball of the 79th over, just before the new ball was due. Bairstow decided to take the short ball on and it did not work, leading to him top edging it to Kohli at first slip. That was the first breakthrough for India.
Kohli was relieved as no wicket had fallen in the first session and India looked down and out before the lunch was called, Root and Bairstow rotating strike easily, at times, tapping it to mid on and collecting quick singles. That strike from Siraj brought energy back into Indians. Siraj kept thinking and trying tactics to break the partnership and eventually it worked.
Bottle cork thrown at KL Rahul and a spectator enters the field
Two different incidents, one an ugly one, the other quite humorous took place on Day 3. But both are unacceptable.
In the morning session on Day 3, corks of champagne bottles were thrown at Rahul who was fielding near the ropes. In between the 69th over, some unruly spectators in the ground found it important to make their presence felt by throwing the corks. Such incidents are rarely seen in England and it could be that this was an exception yet it did not look great.
Kohli looked upset over the incident and was seen gesturing to Rahul to throw it back, whether outside the ropes or back to the spectators, one cannot say. He had a discussion with the umpires too in between the overs before the game resumed again. Not to forget during India's tour of Australia last year when Mohammed Siraj was racially abused by the spectators. Kohli not being impressed with such acts makes sense.
In another incident, an English spectator ran into the ground wearing an India Test shirt. The security officials followed him and asked him to leave but he showed the BCCI logo on his shirt to them, made gestures to cheer the visiting team. Eventually he was taken out and it led to a few Indian cricketers having a laugh.
