England v India: Test Series – Comprehensive Analysis – Part-3
The pressure was building on the Indian team, as they headed to the Edgbaston, Birmingham in England to face the hosts for the third Test of the four-match series on Wednesday, August 10, 2011.
The tourists were 2-0 down in the series and had to work extremely hard in order to bounce back. They still had the option of winning the final two games of the series and retain their number one ranking in Test cricket.
India’s skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 had been lucky at the toss, winning it on the first two occasions at Lord’s and Nottingham. His team failed to gain maximum advantage though, losing both matches by huge margins.
The Birmingham pitch had some grass on it, which indicated that the captain winning the toss would opt to field.
England’s skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AJ-Strauss-c964 was lucky on this occasion, as the coin rolled in his favour this time around. Although losing the toss did not affect his side in the first two games, he still would have been pleased to bowl on a grassy track.
Good news for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447 had been struggling with injuries, but finally came out of the problems, giving a boost to their batting line-up.
Gambhir took the strike and struck two boundaries in the first over of the innings, giving a positive start to the team.
Then came the moment for which the entire Indian nation was waiting for. Sehwag was on strike for the first time in the series and was expected to heal the wounds of his struggling side.
Indian commentators http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sunil-Manohar-Gavaskar-c91863 were expecting Sehwag to blow the opposition away with his aggressive batting. They were charged up and looking for revenge after being humiliated in the first two games of the series.
England’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465 marked his run-up to bowl the second over of the innings. He ran in and welcomed Sehwag with a short delivery. The flamboyant opener tried to avoid contact with the ball, but it was too quick for him.
The ball went to the hands of wicketkeeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Prior-c1984 after brushing the gloves of Sehwag and all the Indian dreams of a flying start were shattered in a few seconds.
This would have bruised the confidence of the tourists badly, as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals in the innings. The team was in deep trouble at 111/7, but Dhoni did not give up easily this time.
The aggressive player smashed 77 runs with the help of 10 fours and 3 thunderous sixes, guiding the team’s total to 224 in the end.
Broad and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Bresnan-c2711 caused a lot of problems for the batsmen, picking up 4 wickets each in the innings.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026, who collected 294 runs for his side.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 and Bresnan struck half-centuries for their side.
There was nothing special about the Indian bowlers apart from they were pounded for plenty of runs. However, the batsmen walked out in the middle with high hopes of a good performance.
Things did not work out according to plan for the tourists, as they lost their expected saviour Sehwag again for a duck. He returned to the side only for a humiliation of a “King Pair.”
Dhoni was once again impressive with the bat in the Indian innings and finished with an unbeaten 74 until running out of partners at the other end.
England won the match with an innings and 242 runs, claiming the top spot in Test cricket.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JM-Anderson-c1705 was instrumental with the ball, dismissing 4 Indian batsmen in the innings, restricting them to 244 all out.
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