Related Links : India’s Tour of England 2011 : England Players : India Players : Scorecard of 3rd Npower Test at Edgbaston
India are staring at an innings defeat after England piled up a mountainous total of 710 for 7 before declaring their second innings. The visitors who faced 12 overs before close of play on Day 3 lost Virender Sehwag for a King’s Pair! At 35 for 1, India have a long way to travel having conceded a first innings lead of 486 runs!
Tale of the Morning Session :
England went into Day 3 at a commanding position of 456 for 3 in 115 overs with Cook 18 runs short of a double century and Eoin Morgan inching towards a fifty. There was a rain interruption just after the start of play but luckily wasn’t a lengthy one. However, lunch was taken early because of another rain interruption with England moving to 503 for 3 in 133.2 overs with Cook registering a second double century and Morgan on 66* looking to convert that into three figures.
Tale of the Afternoon Session :
The post lunch session saw the partnership between Cook and Morgan continue without any trouble at all. The only relief for India came in the 153rd over, when play was halted due to bad light. The resumption of play saw Eoin Morgan register his 2nd Test century. The left handed Morgan (104 from 199 balls with 11 fours) eventually got out in the 161st over when he drove Raina into the hands of covers which brought an end to a massive 222-run partnership for the 4th wicket!
Amit Mishra who struggled to get his lengths right in this game got a couple of quick wickets dismissing Bopara and Prior cheaply. Ravi Bopara (7 from 15 balls) was in a half stride forward when he was hit on the pad by a skidding flat delivery infront of middle and Umpire Simon Taufel made Mishra happy by lifting his finger up. Just a few minutes after that, Matt Prior (5 from 11 balls)attempted a slog sweep against the turning leg break to get caught by a forward diving Tendulkar at long leg.
England closed the afternoon session at 646 for 6 in 177 overs with Alastair Cook moving onto 266.
Tale of the Final Session :
It was quite clear that England were waiting for Cook to get to a triple century before any declaration. India took the third new ball and made things a little tough for Cook and Bresnan. There was another interruption, this time due to bad light. Once play resumed, Tim Bresnan cracked his way to a fifty. Alastair Cook got to 294 before he tragically got out slashing Ishant Sharma straight into the hands of deep point. Cook’s 294 came with 33 fours having batted out 545 balls and 803 minutes! With his dismissal came the declaration with England piling up 710 for 7 in 188.1 overs. Bresnan remained unbeaten on 53 (from 75 balls with 6 fours and a six).
India had to bat out 13 overs before the close of the play and they were off to a dismal start with Sehwag (0 from 1 ball) playing a loose drive off Anderson to edge an outswinger to first slip in just the second ball of the innings! Fortunately for India, the pair of Gautam Gambhir (14* from 41 balls) and Rahul Dravid (18* from 30 balls) showed some application to carry India to 35 for 1 in 12 overs before the Umpires thought that the light wasn’t good enough for any further play.