XtraTime Web Desk: A brilliant maiden five-for by India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya put the visitors on the driver’s seat as after ending the English innings on just 161, India reached a total of 124 for the loss of two wickets on day 2 of the third test at Nottingham on Sunday. The visitors have taken a lead of 292 runs with skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease.
Earlier on day 2, team India got out on 329 in the first innings which was a good score on a bowling friendly track. In reply, England openers started well as they shared a half-century partnership for the first wicket. When everyone started thinking that England will score Big, suddenly their was a collapse for the home side. Both the openers Alister Cook (29) and Keaton Jennings (20) were sent back to the pavilion by Ishant Sharma and Jaspreet Bumrah respectively in back to back deliveries. After that, the English batting collapsed like a pack of cards and they got all out in only one session. At one stage the home side were on 86 for 4 but their batting ended on 161 runs. Jos Buttler was the only batsman who showed some resistance as he scored 39 runs from 32 deliveries. It was the third time that England were bowled out in just one session of a test match. Back in 2015, they lost 10 wickets in a session at Auckland against New Zealand. The same thing happened at Mirpur against Bangladesh in the year 2016 and now they were again all out in one session at Trent Bridge against India.
For the visitors, Hardik Pandya was the star with the ball as he took five wickets to break the back bone of England innings. He took the wickets home captain Joe Root, Jhonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid and Stuart Broad. Surprisingly Pandya’s 5-28 is the same figures Kapil Dev got in one of India’s most famous wins, at the MCG in 1980-81. He also got good support from other pacers. Ishant and Bumrah took two wickets each and Mohammed Shami got a wicket.
In the second innings, India reached 124 for the loss of 2 wickets at the end of day’s play. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul scored 44 and 36 respectively before getting out. India skipper Virat Kohli (8*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (33*) were at the crease at the end of day 2.