England’s first three Test matches against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 – An Overview – Part 2
The third day of play brought miseries for the English, as the pair of Cook and KP was broken after England reached 69 runs, when KP was dismissed by Ojha after scoring 17 runs. This was a major blow for England as they now had only Cook to rely on.
With IR Bell gone on the next delivery, England saw their own grave as they now knew it would take an act of God to get them out of this mess.
Cook was unfortunate as he fell after hammering 41 runs, leaving England with 80 runs on the board.
This was the last nail in England’s coffin as it was now only a matter of time before Indian would bowl them out. MJ Prior tried hitting a heroic knock but was dismissed after reaching 48 runs, as England crumbled with 191 on the board in their first innings.
India’s PP Ojha was outstanding as he dismissed five batsmen to leave http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 without any hope.
Failing to avoid a follow-on, England made a strong start to their second innings with an opening stand of 123, before NRD Compton was trapped in front of stumps after scoring 37 runs. Cook was then joined by IJL Trott as the two batsmen led their side towards
posting 156 runs on the board.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806, who perished with only two runs to his name.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Huzefa-Mohammed-Patel-c63657 was unsuccessful, perishing without scoring a run.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Prior-c1984 then joined Cook to mould a resilient fight back as the two batsmen hammered the Indian bowlers all around the park, keeping the fielders on their toes.
This was the partnership that helped England pile 356 runs on the scorecard. Had it not been for Ojha, this partnership might have continued till eternity, however, the bowler neutralized Cook, who had smashed a stupendous knock of 176 before finding his
way off the field.
Prior then belted a 91-run knock before losing his wicket, nonetheless, he played an important role in helping England reach 406 runs in their second innings.
However, this also meant that England had given India a meagre target of 77 runs to win the match.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/PP-Ojha-c2198 was impressive yet again, as he finished with four wickets to his name in 55 overs.
With India’s outstanding performance in the match, this was a piece of cake for them. Nonetheless, they still lost one wicket before winning as Sehwag was taken out by Swann with 25 runs to his name.
Having CA Pujara belted 41 and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737 14, India reached the target in 15.3 overs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CA-Pujara-c1209, who was named as the Player of the Match said, “The ball was coming nicely onto the bat. There was turn, but it was slow. As a team we knew we had to put up 500-plus and I had to hang around to play my role. In the second innings the ball
was hard and I had a lot of confidence. I was out for almost a year and since I'm back I'm enjoying it.”
To be continued .............................
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