Southampton, July 29 (IANS) India found themselves in deep trouble, trailing England by 246 runs but more importantly needing 47 more runs to avoid a follow-on with only two wickets in hand at the end of day three of the third Test at the The Rose Bowl here on Tuesday.
At stumps, the visitors were 323 for eight with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50 batting) still battling, accompanied by Mohammed Shami unbeaten on four. Indian batsmen did manage to score 109 runs in 34 overs in the final session of the day but lost three crucial wickets, handing England the initiative again.
Ajinkya Rahane, who had played so well for his 54, was dismissed almost immediately after tea. Ravindra Jadeja (31) and Dhoni added 58 runs for the seventh wicket before the former was trapped lbw by James Anderson.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (19) and Dhoni added a further 38 runs taking India closer to the follow-on target, but Stuart Broad took his third wicket of the match to send the Indian pacer packing. Shami survived a few nervy moments in the end as England looked to clean up the tail. Anderson accounted for three Indian wickets while Moeen Ali chipped in with two.
Earlier, India, who started the day at 25 for one and 569 runs behind, lost both overnight batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara (24) and Murali Vijay (34) rather cheaply before lunch. The visitors scored 83 runs in 26 overs in the morning session, losing two wickets in the process.
Anderson bustled in, Broad was very clever with his length, and Chris Woakes, too, was impressive. The pace trio gave the talented Indian batting line-up hardly any leeway. While Anderson, England's top wicket-taker, gave the hosts the breakthrough on Monday, it was his pace partner Broad who did all the damage this morning.
The decision not to give Broad the new ball seemed to spur the pacer on, and he bowled with great aggression. A Broad-bouncer caused Pujara all sorts of problems and caught the glove of the Indian batsman.
The ball came back at Pujara off the pitch as he took evasive action, brushed the gloves and went straight into Jos Buttler’s gloves, this being his first in Test cricket.
It was payback time for the English pacers as they peppered the Indian batsman with the short ball, a ploy Indian pacer Ishant Sharma adopted at Lord's to devastating effect.
Vijay had himself to blame as he chopped a good length delivery from Broad back into his stumps. It was a very indecisive shot from a man who has built his reputation in the series for being disciplined and decisive outside the off-stump. After lunch, India looked to be clawing their way back into the match, but two timely wickets of Virat Kohli (39) and Rohit Sharma (28) once again put the hosts in total control.
Kohli and Rohit Sharma's innings were emblematic of the Indian batsmen's inability to make their good start count. India were also unable to replicate England, who had a string of big partnerships, and gave their wickets away too cheaply.
Kohli, who has had a forgetful series, looked to be getting back to form, but a loose shot outside off-stump saw him edge an Anderson out-swinger to Alastair Cook in the slips. Rohit Sharma, who strung a 74-run stand with Rahane for the fifth wicket, also looked good before throwing his wicket away with a very poor shot just before tea.
Scorecard:
England (first innings 569/7 declared)
India (first innings, overnight 25/1)
Murali Vijay b Broad 35
Shikhar Dhawan c Cook b Anderson 6
Cheteshwar Pujara c Buttler b Broad 24
Virat Kohli c Cook b Anderson 39
Ajinkya Rahane c sub (SP Terry) b Ali 54
Rohit Sharma c Broad b Ali 28
Mahendra Singh Dhoni batting 50
Ravindra Jadeja lbw b Anderson 31
Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Ballance b Broad 19
Mohammed Shami batting 4
Extras (b 12, lb 13, w 8) 33
Total (for eight wickets in 102 overs) 323
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Dhawan, 6.3 overs), 2-56 (Pujara, 23.2), 3-88 (Vijay, 29.5), 4-136 (Kohli, 47.6), 5-210 (Sharma, 66.2), 6-217 (Rahane, 70.1), 7-275 (Jadeja, 88.1), 8-313 (Kumar, 98.4)
Bowling:
James Anderson 24-9-52-3
Stuart Broad 23-6-65-3
Chris Jordan 17-4-59-0
Chris Woakes 20-8-60-0
Moeen Ali 18-0-62-2
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