 India continued to struggle on their tour of England as they were put to
the sword on the second day of the third Test match at Edgbaston. After being
bowled out for 224, England were able to bat their opposition out of the match
with a strong reply, scoring 456 for the loss of three wickets at the end of the
second day. This means that after two days of cricket, England is more than 230
runs ahead, having seven wickets in hand and will be looking to bat the Indians
out of the game.
The second day had started with England at 84 without loss and the tourists needed
some early wickets to make things count. However, there were no wicket for the
Indian bowling in the first session of the day's play as they went about their
business in a strictly professional manner. the ball swung around a bit and the
English batsmen were able to give the due respect that seaming ball needed.
It was only after the first one hour of play had elapsed that the batting gained
confidence and added momentum. The side lost their first wicket at 182 and Andrew Strauss missed his century by 13 runs. however, the Indians had no such
luck with Alastair Cook, who went on to get to his 19th Test match century and
was soon on his way to an unbeaten 182 by the time the day's play had ended.
On the other hand, there were contributions from everyone else in the batting
order and that meant that the side was left with a lot to do.
Ian Bell started off positively and scored 32, while Kevin Pietersen
made a run-a-ball half century before being declared out lbw. However, that
did not allow the run rate to slow down as Eoin Morgan joined Cook and the pair
was involved in another stand, unbeaten till the day's play had ended. Of course,
Morgan was dropped twice en route his 44 and the Indians seemed to have given
up the ghost.
India will now need a miracle and they may still not be able to save
the match. The series is already gone, after they had fallen behind 2-0 but
the only hope was that they would do well in this match. That also fell away
when they were bowled out for 224 in the first innings. Time for a huge second
innings reply by the Indian batsmen to save them an embarrassment.
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