England vs India 2018: 5 Reasons Why India will make a comeback in the Test Series
India thrashed England by 203 runs in the Third Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham thereby handling Joe Root and his boys a huge defeat.
Early in the day on Day 5, India wrapped up the last wicket of James Anderson within 17 balls, dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin when he was caught at slip by Ajinkya Rahane, finally ending the resistance put up by the English tailenders, Adil Rashid and James Anderson.
Rashid and Broad stitched together a 50-run partnership for the eighth wicket, to frustrate Indian captain Virat Kohli on day four and extend the inevitable till the final day. England's lead in the series now stands at 2-1.
Barring partisan Indian fans and cricket pundits, hardly anyone would have expected Virat Kohli and his lads to come back so hard on the Englishmen at Trent Bridge.
If it was a collective performance by the Indians, then it was equally a collective failure by the Englishmen whose batting unit completely surrendered in the first innings.
With the Nottingham result, the Test series opens up again (England leading 2-1) as India makes a strong point that they are well-acclimatized to the English conditions and that Lord’s Test defeat was an aberration as the Edgbaston Test was a well-contested affair!
There are five reasons that justify India making a strong comeback in the Test series. Let’s analyze them one by one:
#1 Indian batsmen starting to contribute
Until the end of Second Test, the Indian team management had a lot to worry for the sorry state of performance put up by the batsmen barring captain Virat Kohli who alone contributed with the bat, not only becoming the leading run-getter for India but also in the series.
Kohli alone had to take up the burden of added responsibility of the batting as the openers failed to put up a good stand on all the four innings. India had to shuffle with the batting combination as the Dhawan-Vijay and Vijay-Rahul pair failed in both the Tests.
Moreover, the middle-order also looked fragile as Ajinkya Rahane flattered to deceive with his batting in overseas conditions. All these were put to rest in the ongoing Test as India’s reliable No. 3, Cheteshwar Pujara, finally came up with runs scoring a valuable 72 runs in the second innings that included nine fours.
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane also was back among the runs after dismal performances in the previous Tests. He made an eye-catching 81 runs in the first innings that included 12 fours. He forged a match-winning 159-runs stand with captain Kohli to bail India out from a tricky situation when they were 82-3 at lunch on Day one.
But what pleased Virat the most was the opening stands that the Dhawan-Rahul pair put up in both the innings i.e. 60 runs in both the innings.