India vs England 3rd Test, Leeds - England lead by 42 after visitors wrapped up for 78

James Anderson strikes thrice and pushes Team India on back foot in the first session of Third Test at Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds.

Brief Scores: England 120 for 0 (Hameed 60*, Burns 52*) lead India 78 (Rohit 19, Anderson 3-6, Overton 3-14) by 42 runs

James Anderson has got Virat Kolhi out 7 times in Tests. (Image: ©Sportskeeda)

On the first day of the third Test between India and England at Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds, the visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. Virat Kohli won the toss for the first time since the Chennai Test between these two countries making his record improve slightly against Joe Root to 2-10.

India went in unchanged while England made two changes

India went into this game with an unchanged line-up from the Lord’s Test where they had won by 151 runs. On the other side, England made two changes to their squad. Dawid Malan came in for Dominic Sibley and Craig Overton found himself in the side in place of Mark Wood who had sustained a shoulder injury.

Before going into the third Test match, India were top favourites. But as the match began, India’s batsmen started struggling from the word go. The first session single-handedly belonged to England where they took four wickets and conceded just 56 runs in 26 overs.

‘King of Swing’ James Anderson makes India’s batsmen dance to his tunes

James Anderson struck thrice in his first spell to push India on the backfoot. All the three wickets went to outswingers while playing away from the body. KL Rahul departed in the first over on duck. Cheteshwar Pujara also went back to the pavilion very early. Anderson dismissed him for the 10th time in the 22 matches they have faced each other. Virat Kohli’s poor form continued in this series. He got out to Anderson after scoring just seven runs in 17 balls with one boundary. The run-machine Kohli is going through a rough phase in his career as he is without a century since November 2019. James Anderson took 3/6 in his 8 over spell.

Read More: India’s Middle Order Conundrum – Pujara, Kohli, Rahane average under 30 from 2020

England wrap up India for 78 in second session

England bowled out India for 78 runs in almost 41 overs. For India, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane scored 19 and 18 runs respectively. While on the other hand James Anderson and Craig Overton took three wickets (3/14) and Ollie Robinson (2/16) and Sam Curran (2/27) took two wickets each for the English team.

The total of 78 runs is the third-lowest tally for India against England. Except Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, none of the players crossed the double-digit mark. There was nothing much in the pitch which could trouble the batsmen. Only the first hour of the game was crucial for the bowling side. But the middle-order trio which included captain Virat Kohli, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara once again failed to live up to the expectations.

Kohli’s decision of batting first proved a blunder for his team and England would be happy after losing the toss and bowling out India for just 78 runs. The Indian batting collapsed courtesy some careless shots and playing deliveries which could have been best left alone on their trajectory.

All the England bowlers made a comeback after their performance in the last game. All the four pacers were among the wickets. The bowlers were strict in terms of line and length which helped them to grab all the 10 wickets in quick time.

England make assured start in the face of some ordinary bowling from India

The newly formed opening pair of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed performed very well during the last half of the second session and in the third and final session of the day. They managed to score 120 runs together in 42 overs before stumps on day one. This is the highest opening partnership for England in this Test series. Also, It's only the second time in the last five years that England have been in triple figures for zero wickets. At the end of the day, both the openers were not out, Rory Burns on 52 runs from 125 balls with five fours and one six while on the other end, Haseeb Hammed is playing on 60 runs from 130 balls which includes 11 boundaries.

India’s bowlers failed to show any impact on the pitch as compared to the first two Tests at Nottingham and Lord’s. All the four bowlers were off-colour. Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj were not able to bowl at the right lengths in the second and third session. They were also not able to bowl on the right lines which rendered them wicketless after the day’s play ended.

What Lies Ahead for India and England

England leading by 42 runs at the stumps on Day 1 with 10 wickets in hand, would surely like to put some big score on the board so, they would continue bat for tomorrow at least. Whereas for India, the situation is little different. India would like to forget the Day 1 completely and try to come afresh and approach the game differently. They would like to get England all out as quickly as possible. A lot depends on Indian pacers tomorrow.

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