India face certain defeat against England

Skipper Joe Root’s brilliant hundred put England totally in command on the second day of the third cricket Test.

The hosts scored 423/8, taking a first-innings lead of 345 runs against India on Thursday.

Root once again led from the front with his 8th hundred against India, a splendid 121 off 165 balls studded with 14 boundaries.

He added 139 runs with Dawid Malan (70) before sharing a 52-run stand with Jonny Bairstow (29) to put England in a strong position with three days to go.

At the draw of stumps, Craig Overton (24) and Ollie Robinson (0) were at the crease.

At the start of the day, both Hameed and Burns looked solid at the start of the second day’s play.

But Burns was castled by a Shami delivery that came in and Hameed fell to Jadeja.

But any hopes India might have had of bagging some quick wickets soon disappeared as Joe Root started scoring at a fast clip.

Root frustrated the Indian bowlers with yet another century, his 23rd in Tests.

Root the record breaker

In the process, he equalled the England record for most Test centuries (six) in a calendar year.

Only Denis Compton (1947) and Michael Vaughan (2002) have previously scored six tons in a year.

This was Root’s third century in as many matches.

When Root clipped Ishant Sharma through midwicket for his 12th four, he reached his ton in just 124 balls.

He was eventually out for 121 when he was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah beauty.

With two more matches to come in the current series, and with three Ashes Tests scheduled before the end of 2021, Root could also break Mohammed Yousuf’s all-time record of nine Test hundreds in a calendar year, set in 2006.

After this innings, Root has 1398 Test runs for the year.

This is 688 runs more than the next-most prolific batter, Rohit Sharma.

Amazingly, 875 of those runs have come against India.

Malan delivers

Malan is known to be one of the best T20 batters in the world but delivered a superb performance in Test, when it mattered.

Malan grew in confidence as he hit 70 off 128 balls in his comeback Test innings.

His 139-run partnership with Root was the highest of the innings.

Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns’ opening stand, which was worth 135 was the second best.

Root also shared a 52-run association with Jonny Bairstow.

Wickets fall in last session

Jos Buttler flicked one straight into the hands of square leg fielder Ishant Sharma.

He scored just 7 off 12.

Siraj bowled a short one and Sam Curran couldn’t resist going for the pull.

The ball soar towards the boundary where substitute fielder Mayank Agarwal pulled off a fine catch.

Curran scored 15 off 30 balls.

England lost wickets in quick succession in the final hour as India fought back strongly

Mohammed Shami was the best of India’s bowlers.

He nipped one back through the defences of Rory Burns early in the day, before having Bairstow caught at slip, and Jos Buttler out at catching midwicket after tea.

Jadeja picked up the wickets of Haseeb Hameed and Moeen Ali.

Although he was expensive, Mohammed Siraj took two wickets, while Bumrah claimed one. 

England 423 for 8 (Root 121, Hameed 68, Shami 3-87) lead India 78 (Anderson 3-6, Overton 3-14) by 345 runs