India vs England 3rd Test: Hardik Pandya’s bowling brilliance and other talking points of the second day

Finally, after a heart-breaking loss and abject humiliation at Lord’s, India finds themselves in the driver’s seat at the end of day two of the third Test at Nottingham. But they will do well to know that two weeks ago they were in a similar position at Edgbaston needing just 84 runs for a resounding victory, but ended up losing by 31 runs.

Their performance in the third Test, however, predict of a different outcome. India has learned their lesson and chastened by past mortification, the visitors now looks more settled than the hosts – who crumbled in a single session.  After the batsmen had shone on the first day, it was the bowlers on Sunday that rattled the England batting-order showing that batting distress in swinging conditions was not limited to them.

With India increasing the lead to 292 with eight wickets at hand at the end of day’s play, The Live Mirror takes a look at five talking points of the second day.

Also Read: India vs England: Pandya, Pant punish England with 5-wicket hauls

Hardik Pandya truely arrives

For someone who calls himself to be a bowling all-rounder, Hardik Pandya had done nothing with the ball in the Test arena and in his last nine matches had taken just 10 wickets, often underused or not used at all. But on a lazy Sunday afternoon and under overcast conditions, Pandya truly arrived, dismantling the England batting order for his maiden five-wicket haul.

Like always he could only bowl six overs, but this time the captain didn’t have to extract him for he had taken out the opposition batsmen with an excellent spell of swing bowling. Pandya eventually finished with  5/28 and all those wickets had come in a space of 29 balls.

England bundle in a single session

It was for only the third time in nearly 80 years that England had failed to survive a session, but that was not strange. What actually surprised was that all of those three have come in the last 22 months.

From bundling inside a single session at Mirpur last year to being packed in a day-night Test in Auckland, England’s batting of late has built up a tendency to slope down together and in unity.

But among all three, this one at Trent Bridge would hurt them the most, for England was playing at home and in conditions that suited them.  All of the top order managed to reach double figures but none went on to score big and if anything, this match looks set to fetch the same result the earlier two did: defeat.

England was bowled out for 161 in 38.2 overs and within a single session.

Rishabh Pant is the future

If on Saturday Rishabh Pant’s audacity to hit his only second ball in Test cricket for a towering six left you gasping for breath with excitement, his wicket-keeping skills further ingrained the belief that this young 20-year-old left-handed batsman was India’s future.

Unlike his batting, that busted with courage, Pant was nervous in the first few overs with his gloves, failing to hold onto few balls while missing another couple, which ran into boundaries. But that settled sooner than expected and by the time Pandya was still one short of his five-wickets, Pant had completed his.

Also Read: India vs England 3rd Test: Rishabh Pant’s blistering start and other talking points from Day 1

The young wicket-keeper from Delhi took five catches, including a flying one-handed catch to Chris Woakes, whom Pandya had surprised with a raging bouncer.

Joe Root’s catch sparks debate

England was already struggling with three wickets lost for just 86 runs when KL Rahul appeared to have caught the English captain off Pandya’s first ball in the match. While Rahul celebrated vociferously, Root stood in his crease as the umpires decided to send it upstairs to the third umpire.

Aleem Dar, who was the third umpire after repeated checks and replays decided that the catch was clean and had bounced not at the turf but on Rahul’s palms. Root was however left amused at the decision and showed his frustration shaking his head as he slowly strode back into the pavilion.

It was an important wicket for it left England reeling at 86/4 and gave Pandya the much-needed boost after the wicket off his first ball. He would go on to take four more and register his first five-wicket haul in the process bundling England for 161.

The opener batting conundrum

Both sides came into the third match still in search for their perfect opening combination. None of England or India’s opening pair had performed any better than the other. But while the visitors changed and twisted their opening pair in all the three matches, the hosts persisted with the same.

Their patience would have however surely run over by now especially at a time the new Indian combination of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul stitched consecutive half-century partnerships in both the innings. Dhawan who was dropped after his failure in the opening Test returned in-place of the out-of-form Murali Vijay and scored a brilliant 35 in the first innings at Trent Bridge following it up with another 44 in the second.

Also Read: England vs India: Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and batting resilience keeps India alive

Both his and Rahul’s new found calm approach to stick in the wicket and bat for longer hours proved effective. They added 60-run opening partnerships in both the innings to become the first Indian pair since Sunil Gavaskar and K. Srikanth to stitch a 50-run partnership in both innings of a Test match in England.

Gavaskar and Srikanth had done so during the 1986 Test series at Edgbaston.