The sky was closing in, the lights switched on, as India fought to find their way in this opening Test of the tour. The Sunday theatre at Headingley had its twists and turns.
Earlier under a bright, blue sky the English late middle-order found its mojo to whittle India’s lead down to six as Shubman Gill’s boys spilled chances that came their way. And just when it seemed the hosts were on the ascendancy after removing first-innings centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal early, they ran into some stiff resistance by two Indian batters who seemed to be on a mission.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Till one of them — Sai Sudharshan — hit a middle-stump half-volley from Ben Stokes straight into the hands of Zak Crawley at short mid-wicket. Trying to make amends for his first-innings duck on Test debut, Sai, playing extremely late and close to his body, had battled his way to 30. His 66-run partnership with senior pro KL Rahul (batting on 47), seemed to be taking India to safe shores at the end of Day 3, till the lapse happened on the part of the left-hander.
Rahul, though, at the other end, seemed to be in a different zone. There was a lot of help for the English pace bowlers, but not for once did it seem that the Karnataka batter was under any threat. Beautifully balanced with his bat face low and playing close to his body, Rahul kept the scoreboard ticking. India finished the third day at 90-2.
England let off the hook early For now, the game is in the balance, but things could have been much rosier for India. They got overnight centurion Ollie Pope (106) cheaply in the morning, paceman Prasidh Krishna being the beneficiary of a loose shot.
With Jasprit Bumrah in the middle of a wonderful early spell, India were just one wicket away from taking control. But Prasidh and Mohammed Siraj were poor, to put it mildly. They hardly bowled the full length that is crucial for extracting the early movement, and Brook cashed in on anything short. On Saturday night, he had survived after getting out for a duck off a Bumrah no-ball, and it might have given him the belief that luck was on his side.
There’s a bit of natural flair in his game too, especially on true surfaces where there is not much spin on offer. He lost his captain Stokes (20), at a crucial juncture when England were 195 runs short of the Indian total, but that didn’t stop him from launching a counter-attack. Another dropped catch at 82 by Jaiswal — again off Bumrah — with the second new ball gave him more confidence and at the other end, wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith (40) too showed some spunk before throwing it away.
Quiz:
Who's that IPL player? Brook’s luck, though, finally ran out at a time when he was one short of his ninth Test century. His attempted hook off Prasidh couldn’t clear the deep square-leg boundary as Shardul Thakur completed the catch.
It was after this that India completely lost the plot. Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes tried to get the lead down and went into an attacking mode, as Gill’s inexperience as captain came to the fore. With Prasidh and Siraj going for runs, he had to bring Bumrah and Jadeja back but he delayed it for far too long.
The next 50 runs that India allowed to leak might just prove vital in the final outcome. Bumrah (5-83) did finally do the needful after being brought back for another spell, but England by then had enough oxygen to take the fight forward.
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