It was an exciting day of test cricket on the third day of first test match played at Edgbaston just finished a few moments ago. A great bowling spell by Ishant Sharma and counter-attacking knock by Sam Curran helped England set India a target of 194 to win. Despite losing 5 wickets, the Indian captain Virat Kohli is still there with 84 runs to win.
On the third day of a first test match, Ravichandran Ashwin got an early wicket dismissing Jennings for 8. India’s ace off-spinner got the second wicket of the day getting captain Joe Root caught by KL Rahul at leg slip for 14. David Malan and Jonny Bairstow added 31 runs for the fourth wicket. Ishant Sharma got 3 wickets in quick succession of David Malan, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes. It was a brilliant session for the Indians taking 5 wickets giving away 77 runs. England was struggling at 86 for 6 at lunch.
After the lunch break, Ishant Sharma dismissed Jos Buttler for just 1 run. Sam Curran played a counter-attacking knock with aggressive stroke play. Both Adil Rashid and Sam Curran added 48 runs for the 8th wicket. Sam Curran continued his attacking style reaching his first test half-century off 54 balls. Both Curran and Broad added 41 runs for the 9th wicket. India bowled out England for 180. Sam Curran made a quick fire 63 off 65 balls. For Ishant Sharma was the pick of bowlers with 5 wickets. This was the end of the 2nd session.
Chasing 194 to win, the Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay began steadily before Stuart Broad dismissed both openers to leave India at 22 for 2. The Indian captain Virat Kohli and KL Rahul added 24 runs for the 3rd wicket before Ben Stokes dismissed KL Rahul for 13. Again Rahane was dismissed cheaply playing a poor stroke for 2 runs which left India at 63 for 4.
Ravichandran Ashwin has promoted up the order and was dismissed for just 13 runs. The Indian captain Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik is still at the crease with an unbeaten stand of 32 runs. For England, Stuart Broad picked 2 wickets, while Stokes, Curran and Anderson took 1 wicket each.
India 274 in 76 overs ( Virat Kohli 149, Hardik Pandya 22, Dhawan 26, Sam Curran 4/74, ) and 110 for 5 in 36 overs ( Virat Kohli 43*, Dinesh Karthik 18*, Stuart Broad 2/29) require 84 runs to win.
England 287 in 89.4 overs (Joe Root 80, Jonny Bairstow 70, Ravichandran Ashwin 4/60, Mohammed Shami 3/64) and 180 in 53 over’s ( Sam Curran 63, Bairstow 28, Ashwin 3/59, Ishant Sharma 5/51)
