Pacer Mohammed picks 6-70 while Akash Deep takes four as India dismiss England for 407 to bag 180-run first-innings lead despite 303-run stand between Harry Brook and Jamie Smith; visitors 64-1 at stumps on Day 3
India pacer Mohammed Siraj celebrates his fifer against England at Edgbaston yesterday; (right) Akash Deep is ecstatic after dismissing England’s Harry Brook. PIC/Bipin PatelPics/Bipin Patel
On what was primarily a new-ball surface, India’s bowlers were put to the sword by a spectacular counter-attacking sixth-wicket alliance between Harry Brook and the exceptional Jamie Smith. But once the second new cherry was available at the end of 80 overs, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj (six for 70) joined hands to orchestrate a collapse of the sort the Indians had courted in the first Test, giving their side a commanding 180-run lead at Edgbaston on Friday. At stumps, India were 64-1 in the second innings.
England’s innings wore a funny old look. Their final tally of 407 included two efforts of more than 150 from Brook and Smith, but also six ducks, including four on the third day of the second Test. The last three – Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir – all failed to tickle the scorers as the last five wickets fell for the addition of just 20 runs.
India began and ended their bowling stint with a flurry of wickets, but the middle phase was a chastening experience, especially for Prasidh Krishna, who was taken to the cleaners by Smith in particular. Prasidh wasn’t the only one to suffer at the England stumper’s hands; during his career-best unbeaten 184 studded with strokes that matched Shubman Gill’s for impact and elegance, Smith was unforgiving on pace and spin alike. Brook, himself an attacking batter, kept his instincts in check but paled only in comparison with Smith’s incandescence. Even India’s bowlers, at the receiving end as they were, would have admired the complete lack of nerves after the sixth-wicket duo came together just 11 minutes into day three following Siraj’s twin strikes in the day’s second over.
Joe Root was the first to perish, to the ninth delivery of the morning when he was superbly caught by Rishabh Pant, diving to his left as he tickled a full ball too fine. Ben Stokes followed him next ball, caught unawares by a sharp lifter that flew off the splice of the bat to Pant at a much more comfortable pace and height. Smith walked in at 84 for five, drove his first ball — the hat-trick ball — through mid-off for four and then sped away.
Brook sailed along in his wake as India inexplicably chose the short-ball route. Prasidh was hammered for four fours and a six in his sixth over and the momentum shifted. As the Duke’s got older and softer, Smith tore the Indian bowlers to shreds with a spectacular display of batting on the benign surface while Brook also scored rapidly without quite being in the same league as his partner.
India leaked 172 runs in 27 overs in the first session and though they showed greater control in the second two-hour period, they couldn’t dislodge the pair. But after the second new ball was commissioned, it was all over in a jiffy in the last session once Deep produced an excellent in-cutter to crash through Brook’s defences, snapping the partnership at 303.
6
No. of England batters out for a duck on Friday — the most for them in a Test innings
Brief scores
India 587 & 64-1 (KL Rahul 28*) v England 407 (J Smith 184*, H Brook 158; M Siraj 6-70, A Deep 4-88)
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