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NOTTINGHAM: India routed England on a dramatic afternoon at Trent Bridge as Hardik Pandya took five wickets, including one with his first delivery, to dismiss the home side for 161 and breathe new life into a rollercoaster Test series on Sunday.
All 10 wickets went down in the session as England, who won the first two Tests in the best-of-five series, conceded a first innings deficit of 168.
Pandya took a career-best five for 28 in six overs to transform the game after England had lunched in the comfortable position of 46-0.
But the bowlers knew that, like England’s attack in the morning when India’s remaining four wickets fell cheaply to see them bowled out for 329, balls pitched on the right length found instant success.
With England on 54, Alastair Cook was first to depart for 29, caught behind off a probing delivery from Ishant Sharma, with his partner Keaton Jennings following next ball when Jasprit Bumrah squared him up horribly.
From that moment, England were always fighting a rearguard action, with Ollie Pope edging down the leg side before Pandya had captain Joe Root caught by Lokesh Rahul’s fingertips at slip.
Root clearly felt the ball had bounced before reaching the fielder and remained unhappy even after the TV umpire confirmed the dismissal, shaking his head in disapproval.
Ben Stokes soon followed for 10, caught by Rahul off Mohammed Shami, before Pandya accounted for Jonny Bairstow (15), Chris Woakes (8) and Adil Rashid (5) in quick succession.
The last two were both caught behind by 20-year-old wicket keeper Rishabh Pant, who marked an impressive debut by taking five catches.
Jos Buttler raised the biggest home cheer of the afternoon by scoring a streaky run to avoid the follow on. The batsman did his best to fight back, striking several strong blows before he finally holed out on 39.
Earlier, India lost their final four wickets for 22 runs in 40 minutes as Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled superbly to lay down the template for an astonishing afternoon.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings, overnight 307-6):
S. Dhawan c Buttler b Woakes 35
K.L. Rahul lbw b Woakes 23
C.A. Pujara c Rashid b Woakes 14
V. Kohli c Stokes b Rashid 97
A.M. Rahane c Cook b Broad 81
H.H. Pandya c Buttler b Anderson 18
R.R. Pant b Broad 24
R. Ashwin b Broad 14
I. Sharma not out 1
Mohammed Shami c Broad b Anderson 3
J. Bumrah b Anderson 0
EXTRAS (B-12, LB-6, W-1) 19
TOTAL (all out, 94.5 overs) 329
FALL OF WKTS: 1-60, 2-65, 3-82, 4-241, 5-279, 6-307, 7-323, 8-326, 9-329.
BOWLING: Anderson 25.5-8-64-3; Broad 25-8-72-3; Stokes 15-1-54-0 (1w); Woakes 20-2-75-3; Rashid 9-0-46-1.
ENGLAND (1st Innings):
A.N. Cook c Pant b Sharma 29
K.K. Jennings c Pant b Bumrah 20
J.E. Root c Rahul b Pandya 16
O.J. Pope c Pant b Sharma 10
J.M. Bairstow c Rahul b Pandya 15
B.A. Stokes c Pant b Shami 10
J.C. Buttler c sub b Bumrah 39
C.R. Woakes c Pant b Pandya 8
A.U. Rashid c Pant b Pandya 5
S.C.J. Broad lbw b Pandya 0
J.M. Anderson not out 1
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-1, NB-2) 8
TOTAL (all out, 38.2 overs) 161
FALL OF WKTS: 1-54, 2-54, 3-75, 4-86, 5-108, 6-110, 7-118, 8-128, 9-128.
BOWLING: Mohammed Shami 10-2-56-1; Bumrah 12.2-2-37-2 (2nb); Ashwin 1-0-3-0; Sharma 9-2-32-2; Pandya 6-1-28-5 (1w).
Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2018
