England vs India, 1st Test, Day 3 – Lunch Report
Aug 3, 2018 at 5:48 PM
India dominated the first session of Day 3 of the ongoing first Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham as they scalped five wickets. Ravichandran Ashwin continued to breathe down the host’s batsmen neck as he scalped two more wickets.
Ishant Sharma was able to send back Dawid Malan to stamp India’s authority on the session. The lanky fast bowler provided a perfect finish to the session when he got rid of Jonny Bairstow with Shikhar Dhawan taking a good low catch.
India’s Slip Catching was the highlight of the session.
Furthermore, Ishant Sharma was able to produce the edge of Ben Stokes which was once again held brilliantly from the man who can not put a foot wrong in the Test match, Virat Kohli. Thus, it was a perfect icing on the cake for the tourists.
More importantly, India’s catching was really impressive in the opening session. Keaton Jennings catch was held by KL Rahul while fielding at second slip to Ravichandran Ashwin.
Meanwhile, England skipper Joe Root was dismissed in an unfortunate manner. Root who had top-scored for England in the first innings tried to guide one to the leg-side. However, KL Rahul who was at the leg-slip was able to hang on a sharp catch.
Dawid Malan never looked settled and he played early to find his outside edge taken by Ajinkya Rahane at gully. Thus, India’s experienced campaigner Ishant Sharma took three wickets to put India’s noses in front.
On the other hand, England failed to get any kind of partnership going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Jonny Bairstow was the leading run-scorer for England in the session with 28 runs to his name.
England currently lead by 99 runs and would like to get some more to set visitors a decent target. On the other hand, India will look to grab the next five wickets as soon as possible.
Brief Scores: England 86-6 leads by 99 runs. Jonny Bairstow 28.
Ishant Sharma 3-21.
Ravichandran Ashwin 3-34.