India grind England into submission

England v India 2018 tour

Cricket365
August 20, 2018

India put the boot into England on day three of the third Test at Trent Bridge after resuming their second innings on 124 for 2.

The tourists would post 352 for 7 before declaring leaving England chasing 521 runs to win or needing to bat for more than two days to save the match.

Skipper Virat Kohli stood tall for India and he and Cheteshwar Pujara would take India to lunch on day three at 194 for 2 with both batsmen reaching fifty.

Pujara (72) would have been relieved to end a horror run of 16 Test innings without a fifty but equally he will be disappointed to have missed out on three figures having edged Ben Stokes to Alastair Cook in the slips leaving India 224 for 3.

Kohli was joined by Ajinkya Rahane who stayed with the captain through the nervous 90s and helped him to his 23rd Test century.

The captain’s dismissal, trapped leg before by Chris Woakes for 103, would prompt India to get after the bowling and Rishabh Pant (1) perished soon after arriving at the crease.

Hardik Pandya smashed an unbeaten 52 off 52 balls to lift India over the 500-run lead mark even as wickets began to tumble.

Cook (9*) and Keaton Jennings (13*) made up for their dropped catches earlier in the piece by surviving a tricky nine overs at the end of day three but England face a mammoth task to save the game.

On the down-side for India Ravichandran Ashwin looks to be struggling with an injury while England have their own concerns on that front with their leading runscorer in the series, wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, fracturing his finger behind the stumps.