HARDIK PANDYA RIPS THROUGH ENGLAND
INDIAN PACER STRIKES HIS MAIDEN FIVEFOR
NOTTINGHAM: The beauty of playing cricket in England is taking advantage of its fickle weather.
Although India are playing in the second half of English summer, hot conditions leading up to the series gave way to damp weather with rain and overcast conditions spicing it up in favour of the seamers and making it a challenge for batsmen.
The Indian pace attack, that has prided itself in consistently taking 20 wickets overseas, came to the party on Sunday to put India on the cusp of victory.
In the Lord’s Test, India looked particularly bad in their innings defeat as England seamers cashed in on a good toss and got to bowl in perfect conditions in both innings. But the Trent Bridge Test has been about India showing rare resilience and their bowlers building on the steel shown by the batsmen.
They found a new hero in Hardik Pandya on Day 2 as India’s seamers claimed all 10 England wickets in the single, extended afternoon session to leave the visitors in a perfect position to push for victory and start a resurgence in the five-match contest.
England were dismissed for 161 runs in just 38.2 overs, Pandya grabbing his first five-wicket innings haul off just six overs (5/28) to pay back for their batting woes at Lord’s.
India had a potentially matchwinning first innings lead of 168 runs, having made 329 before being all out 40 minutes into the rain-shortened morning session. India were 117/2 in the second innings, a lead of 285 runs at the time of going into print. KL Rahul (36) and Shikhar Dhawan (44) gave another solid start, adding 60 in 11.2 overs, before falling.
India’s batsmen reaped the benefits of showing greater discipline after being asked to bat first by England skipper Joe Root.
But the shaky England batting unit was brought to its knees in one of the finest demonstrations of consistent seam bowling by an Indian team.
There was no inkling of what was to come as Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah were not consistent and let England reach 46/0 at lunch.
But Ishant Sharma demonstrated the value of bowling a fuller length and getting the ball to swing and seam.
He removed two top-order batsmen before Pandya got into action.