Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 5

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 India lost the third Test of the five-match series to England by 266 runs on the fifth morning in Southampton. The Indian line-up disintegrated in the first session of the final day as they lost six wickets for 66 runs. While Ajinkya Rahane fought to keep the team afloat, James Anderson and Moeen Ali ran through the line-up at the other end. Rahane was left stranded on 52 as Anderson claimed two wickets while the off-spinner finished with six to help England level the series 1-1. (Also Read: Stats Highlights: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 4)

Resuming on 112 for four, India were 333 runs short of the target but more pertinently, the visitors needed to dig in their heels and save the game. The Indian line-up though caved in to the England bowling attack without much resistance. On the ninth ball of the day they lost their fifth wicket of the innings. Anderson who has been instrumental in England’s fortune in the third Test this far, claimed Rohit Sharma with a pitched up delivery. The ball brushed past the batsman’s willow and was caught by Joss Buttler behind the wickets.  (Also Read: Next two matches a test of our character: MS Dhoni)

With half the side back in the dressing room, the India captain came out to face the pace duo of Stuart Broad and Anderson firing in from both ends. Dhoni didn’t last long either and was Anderson’s next scalp. After sending the previous delivery to the fence past the slips, he departed edging the next to Buttler and walked back for six.

With India gasping for breath on 120/6, Ravindra Jadeja joined Rahane in the middle in the sixth over of the day. As he has done before in the recent past, Rahane once again looked determined to try and save the Test. 

Even as he guarded one end, India lost two more wickets in quick succession. Ali clipped Jadeja’s bails to end the seventh wicket stand for 32. Three balls later he got the better of Bhuvneshwar Kumar to bring England within two wickets of victory.

Alastair Cook then had fielders breathing down Mohammed Shami’s neck for the last ball of the over and the tail-end batsman took the aerial route to keep his wicket intact. However in his next over the spinner knocked back the No 10’s leg stump to claim his maiden five-wicket haul. 
Debutant, Pankaj Singh was the last to join Rahane in the middle. Looking to prolong the end, the middle-order batsman farmed the strike as he fought a losing battle. He brought up a valiant half-century with a scrumptious cover-drive. But the Indian innings was cut short in the next over.

Singh struck Ali for two successive boundaries before he found his woodwork disrupted by the spinner to hand England a thumping victory.

While Anderson finished with seven wickets in the game, Ali had picked eight in the match. 

Brief scores:

Day 1: England 1st inn 247/2 in 90 overs (G Ballance 104*, A Cook 95, I Bell 16*)

Day 2: England 1st inn 569/7 decl. in 163.4 overs (I Bell 167, G Balance 156, J Buttler 85, B Kumar 3/101); India 1st inn 25/1 in 14 overs (M Vijay 11*, C Pujara 4*, J Anderson 1/14)

Day 3: India 1st inn 323/8 in 102 overs (A Rahane 54, MS Dhoni 50*, J Anderson 3/52, S Broad 3/65) 

Day 4: India 1st inn 330 all out in 106.1 overs (MS Dhoni 50, J Anderson 5/53); England 2nd inn 205/4 decl. in 40.4 overs (A Cook 70*, J Root 56, R Jadeja 3/52); India 2nd inn 112/4 in 42 overs ( A Rahane 18*, R Sharma 6*, M Ali 2/33)

Day 5: India 2nd inn 178 all out in 66.4 overs (A Rahane 52*, M Ali 6/67, J Anderson 2/24)

Man of the Match: James Anderson for his seven-wicket haul in the third Test

  • Cook: "I am more happy than relieved, it was a great performance from Day One and I don't think we lost any session. Every single member of the team contributed in this performance and after our great start with the bat we knocked them over cheaply, it was a perfect Test Match. I want to thank everyone here at Southampton, it's been a fantastic week. I thought my game was heading back in the right direction at Lord's and to back it up here was very pleasing. We have had to work incredibly hard for this victory and they have all been fantastic. Moeen has come on leaps and bounds since joining us and to take all those wickets here is fantastic."


  • Dhoni: "I don't think we played good cricket here, we played the fast bowlers well and although Moeen bowled well we didn't play spin attacking enough, we need to be more positive. The soft dismissals we gave away in the first innings really hurt us and last night left us in real trouble. We never used the fifth bowler at Lord's so we thought we could do with the extra batsman here, we will sit down and discuss the team selection for Old Trafford."

    •  source: bcci.tv

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