Last Updated on 5 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Ranked: Top 5 players from 3rd ENG vs IND Test | Top players from the 3rd ENG vs IND Test: England win by innings and 76 runs
How often in recent times has India lost test matches and test series from winning positions? There have been so many instances as an Indian fan, where you must think, “How on earth did India lose this Test?”
Safe to say though, the 3rd Test at Headingley was different. This Test was probably lost on the very first day with India falling like a house of cards to the swing of Jimmy Anderson, coupled with Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton’s immaculate line and length.
Indian fans are starting to have Déjà vu of the 2014 series, where India won the 2nd Test at Lord’s and then went on to lose the series 3-1. India will be hoping for a different result this time around, as this team has shown the fight and have made impossible comebacks in recent times and under difficult conditions. The swords are out for the Indian team and more so for Virat Kohli and the middle order who keep being dismissed in the same fashion time and again.
Indian fans will be hoping that India can turn things around dramatically at The Oval in the 4th Test just like they did in Australia last year after posting their lowest Test score of all time.
Ranked: Top 5 players from 3rd ENG vs IND Test
5. Dawid Malan
Malan’s last First Class match was back in June. Although he hit 199 in that game, people could argue that Ollie Pope would have been an option to consider for the much maligned England number three slot. However, Malan played beautifully, scoring a fine 70 at number three, providing the kind of assurance and solidity that England have been lacking for quite some time.
4. Rohit Sharma
The only Indian player on this list and rightly so. When India started the second innings, Anderson and Robinson displayed some top-class swing bowling, making run-scoring quite difficult. Sharma left well, patiently waiting to pounce on rare loose deliveries from England’s disciplined and skilful attack. The way he stood his ground ensured that India made the England bowlers work and set a platform for the middle order.
3. Joe Root
Well, a Joe Root hundred shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone now. He is having the time of his life and with another hundred in the Test match, that’s three for the series in three matches and six for the year already. With five Test matches to play, Joe Root looks set to pass the record for the highest runs scored in a calendar year.
Root came in at 2-159 after England openers finally got them off to a great start. He was the only one who converted the fifty into another hundred and India don’t seem to have any answer to Joe Root’s class at the moment.
2. Ollie Robinson
With seven wickets in the test, including a 5-for in the second innings, Robinson has taken to Test match cricket like duck to water. A lot of experts have already tipped Robsinon to take on the mantle of fast bowling along with Archer once Broad and Anderson hang up their boots. He dismissed a well set Virat Kohli in the second innings with a terrific piece of bowling and opened the floodgates for the Indian collapse.
1. James Anderson
Time again, Jimmy makes us wonder how he does it. To bowl with that gusto and keep yourself hungry at the age of 39 is a thing of beauty. He dismissed KL Rahul, India’s shining light so far on this tour, in the first over of the Test match, before dismissing Pujara and Kohli in the first hour of the Test.
He took three wickets in the first innings in his eight overs while only giving away six runs with six maidens. You would expect nothing less than a 630-wicket stalwart.
The series is now evenly poised at 1-all, but England will definitely have the upper hand going back to London at The Oval for the fourth Test. But this Indian team has shown time and again that they will not be bullied like the old Indian teams, (Sorry Mr Sunil Gavaskar) and they know how to make a comeback.
As a fan, we can expect there will no love lost between the two teams at The Oval and we can expect some hard and tough cricket when the 4th Test begins on 2nd September.
