England vs India, 3rd Test: Indian batting shines on Day 1
India ended Day 1 of the third Test with a dominating batting display. Under perfect batting conditions, Indian openers provided a perfect start. Kohli and his deputy, Rahane, put together a partnership of 159 runs and ensured that India held the upper hand throughout the day. They dominated the English bowlers which was evident from the fact that India had a run rate of over 4 during their stay at the crease. Later in the day, England got a couple of wickets and India finished on 307/6.
Indian openers provide a solid start
England won the toss and Joe Root invited India to bat first on a dry Trent Bridge wicket. England made one change with Stokes coming in for Curran. On the other hand, Kohli made as many as three changes. Bumrah came in for Kuldeep Yadav, Dhawan replaced Vijay and Pant was drafted in in place of Karthik.
Owing to lack of moisture in the wicket, there was not much swing on offer for the English opening bowlers. The Indian openers relished batting on this track and gave their side a solid start. The opening pair put on 60 runs which was the highest stand for them this series. Dhawan was in terrific touch as he scored 35 runs off 65 balls which included seven hits to the fence.
Three wickets fall in quick succession
After a solid start by the openers, India suffered a mini-collapse before lunch wherein they lost three wickets in quick succession. Chris Woakes accounted for all of them.
Dhawan was squared up as he tried to defend a ball moving away but could only manage an edge to second slip. Rahul's struggles with the ball coming in continued as he was adjudged LBW yet again. At the stroke of lunch, Pujara went for an attacking shot off a short ball which was gobbled up by Rashid at fine leg. India went into lunch at 82/3.
Captain and his deputy resurrect the innings
Rahane joined Kohli after lunch. Post lunch, the pitch seemed to have eased out as there was no swing on offer. Both the batsmen capitalized on the favorable conditions for batting and stitched together a partnership. Rahane played some mesmerizing shots and was pretty harsh on any width on offer. Kohli joined the party as well as he played some delightful cover drives. Going into tea at 189/3, India looked set for a big first innings score.
Rahane and Kohli miss out on a century
Post-tea, Kohli and Rahane continued from where they had left off and built together a partnership of a mammoth 159 runs. Just when Rahane looked set for a ton, he edged a ball from Broad and Cook showed some brilliant reflexes to pluck a catch out of thin air.
After the departure of his deputy, Kohli continued to pile up runs for the team in the company of Pandya. He was unfortunate to miss his century by three runs when he was caught in the slips off the bowling of Rashid.
Pant opens his account in Test cricket with a six
Rishabh Pant made a blistering start to his career by hitting the second ball he faced in Test cricket for a six. This was a great way to announce his arrival. He played confidently and remained unbeaten on 22. Kohli would expect Pant to hit few more lusty blows on the second day and catapult India's first innings score to 400.
Another batting collapse for India
In the last session, India lost both the set batsmen, Kohli and Rahane. Just when it seemed that India would go to stumps unscathed, Anderson induced an edge from Pandya to register his 100th Test victim against the nation. This ended a see-saw day of cricket with India finishing on 307/6.
This by far has been India's best batting performance this series. They were definitely aided by the pitch which was ideal for batting. Going into the second day, India should look to push the innings score closer to 400.