England thrash India at Headingly to level series

India dominated both the first two Test matches in the ongoing 5-match Test tour of England - a Draw at Trent Bridge and a massive victory at Lord's. Going into this third Test match at Headingly, England were under tremendous pressure with series on the line. However, the home team made a miraculous comeback to register a massive victory and level the series with 2 more games to go in the series!

Image Credits: twitter/@englandcricket

Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first. For the record, this was the first time Virat won the toss in a Test played in England. Earlier, he lost 8 tosses in a row - 7 against England and 1 against New Zealand in the WTC Final. The Indian captain had misread the conditions at the toss in this match and opted to bat under bright sunlight. However, Joe Root said that the pitch was 'tacky' at the toss and not a bad option to bowl first!

India's first Innings: 78 all out

As Root opined at the toss, conditions were favorable for the bowlers! James Anderson broke the back of India's top-order removing KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli very cheaply. He had bowling figures of 3/6 in the 8 overs he bowled which also includes 5 maiden overs!

That spell from Anderson set the tone for the rest of the England bowlers. Besides Anderson, Craig Overton bagged 3 wickets while Ollie Robinson and Sam Curran accounted 2 wickets each to bowl out India for just 78 runs in the first innings! Indian opener Rohit Sharma was their top scorer with 19 runs in this innings!

England's first innings: 432 all out

England made two changes to their top-3 going into this Test match! Haseeb Hameed who batted at no. 3 at Lord's promoted to open the innings while Dawid Malan was recalled into the side to bat at no. 3 position! The out-of-form opener Dom Sibley was dropped from the Test squad. And the changes made merry for the home team as their top-4 all registered 50+ in this innings - Rory Burns (61), Haseeb Hameed (68), Dawid Malan (70), Joe Root (121).

The 135-run stand between Burns and Hameed for the first wicket itself had helped England eclipse India's total and take a healthy lead. England captain Root scored 121 runs in this innings, making it his third century in as many matches in this series. Overall, England got to 432 runs in this innings taking a huge lead of 354 in the first innings!

Indian bowling unit looked pale in this innings as Ishant Sharma conceded over 4 runs per over without a wicket and Mohammad Siraj conceded close to 4 runs per over! Mohammad Shami was the pick of Indian bowlers with 4 wickets.

India's second innings: 278 all out

With a huge deficit on their back, India lost KL Rahul cheaply courtesy of a great one-handed catch diving to his left by Jonny Bairstow at 2nd slip. Rohit and Pujara did the repair work with an 82-run stand for the 2nd wicket which was broken with the departure of Rohit on 59 as LBW, who missed a straight ball from Robinson. Under pressure, Pujara and Kohli shouldered the burden and added 99 runs for the third wicket by stumps on Day 3.

At stumps on Day 3, India were in control of the Test with well-set Pujara and Kohli at the crease. Moreover, India were only trailing by 135 runs with 8 wickets in hand at that stage. However, things did take a complete u-turn on Day 4. Pujara offered no shot to an incoming delivery and was adjudged as LBW on review early on Day 4. He departed without adding runs to his overnight total of 91 runs.

Virat Kohli though got to his half-century, was caught in the slips as he departed on 55. With these two wickets, India went on to lose their next 2 wickets cheaply as well. From a commanding position where the scorecard read 215/2, India slipped to 239/6. Ravindra Jadeja scored 30 runs but he had no support from the other end.

India were eventually bowled out for 278 runs conceding England a massive victory by an innings and 76 runs. Ollie Robinson completed his 5-wicket haul with the wickets of Rohit, Pujara, Kohli, Pant, Ishant. Craig Overton proved his worth with 6 wickets in this match - 3 wickets apiece in each of the innings.

Player of the Match:

Ollie Robinson bagged the Player of the Match award for his superb bowling in this Test match. He got 2 wickets in the first innings and 5 wickets in the second innings. This is the second time Robinson bagged a 5-wicket haul in Tests, both against India in the ongoing 5-match series.

What's next?

The 5-match Test series is currently level 1-1. The first Test match was drawn at Trent Bridge while India won the second Test match at Lord's before the home team won the third Test match at Headingly. The fourth Test match will be played at the Oval in London beginning from Thursday (Sep 02).

Brief Scores: England - 432 all out (Joe Root - 121, Mohammad Shami - 4/95) defeated India - 78 all out (Rohit Sharma - 19, James Anderson - 3/6) & 278 all out (Cheteshwar Pujara - 91, Ollie Robinson - 5/65) by a margin of an innings & 76 runs