NOTTINGHAM, July 11 (PTI): Ishant Sharma bowled an incisive spell in the post-lunch session as India gained upperhand effecting a middle-order collapse to reduce hosts England to 205 for seven at tea, on the third day of the third Test, here today.
Comfortably placed at 131 for one during lunch, England lost six wickets for addition of 74 runs in the post-lunch session including a couple of debatable decisions as Ishant (3/64) along with Mohammed Shami (2/58) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/35) ripped through the middle-order.
At the tea-break, the hosts were still trailing by 252 runs in the first innings, needing 53 more to avoid the follow-on, with ample time remaining in the match for the visitors to push for victory.
Joe Root (13 batting)and Stuart Broad (1 batting) were at the crease.
The post-lunch session started with Ishant striking in the very second over after lunch. However opener Sam Robson, who scored his maiden Test half-century, was unlucky to be given out leg before by Australian umpire Bruce Oxenford as there was clearly an inside edge.
It brought in-form Ian Bell to the crease and he started with a flurry of boundaries as the English 150 runs came up in the 55th over, with the out-of-shape ball also changed before that over.
Just afterwards though, Ishant made it a double strike as he trapped Gary Ballance leg before as well, a clean dismissal this time around with the ball jagging back in and befuddling the batsman. He scored 71 runs after facing 167 balls, inclusive of 9 fours.
That�s when the slide began for England as five overs later Bell (25 runs, 37 balls, 6 fours) was caught behind, playing an unintelligent shot to a short ball from Sharma who snapped up his third wicket.
SCORECARD
India 1st Innings 457 all out
England 1st Innings: (Overnight 43/1) Alastair Cook b Shami 5, Sam Robson lbw b Sharma 59, Gary Ballance lbw b Sharma 71, Ian Bell c Dhoni b Sharma 25, Joe Root batting 13, Moeen Ali c Dhawan b Shami 14, Matt Prior c Dhoni b Kumar 5, Ben Stokes c Dhoni b Kumar 0, Stuart Broad batting 1. Extras: (LB-3, WD-1, NB-8) 12. Total: (for 7 wkts in 73 overs) 205. Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-134, 3-154, 4-172, 5-197, 6-202, 7-202. Bowling: B Kumar 18-7-35-2, M Shami 16-3-58-2, I Sharma 19-3-64-3, R Jadeja 15-4-24-0, S Binny 5-0-21-0. (At tea)
