Jimmy & Co rock
India after opting to bat were skittled out for 78. In reply England were 120 with openers going strong
After looking so assured for two Test matches, it has been an awful day for India at Headingley as India after being bowled out for 78 and looked completely off guard as England were going strong with the openers Rory Burns (52) and Haseeb Hameed (60) put on 120 runs, on the first day of the third Test here on Wednesday. England were sitting pretty with 42 runs lead with all the ten wickets intact, after James Anderson and the pace battery of hosts rattled the batting of the visitors. James Anderson rocked the top-order in an early morning spell as India got a rude jolt from a disciplined England pace attack which shot the visitors out for a paltry 78.
At tea, England were 21 for no loss taking complete control of the proceedings after Virat Kohli's decision to bat under overcast
conditions backfired badly.
It is now second time in nine months that India have been bowled out for less than 100 after their Adelaide debacle of 36 all out in December last year.
After the Lord's high, it was an absolute low for Kohli and his men as this is India's lowest score on a first day track in the past 34 years. The last time India were all-out for less than 100 on the first
day of a Test was back in 1987 when fiery Jamaican Patrick Patterson scared the hell out of Dilip Vengsarkar's team, skittling them out for 75 at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi. On the day, Rohit Sharma (19 off 105 balls) and Ajinkya Rahane (18 off 54 balls) were the only ones to reach double digits and the third highest contribution was 16 extra runs.
Once Anderson (8-5-6-3), who is back at his best, used his lethal outswingers to good effect and got the wickets of KL Rahul (0), Cheteshwar Pujara (1) and rival skipper Virat Kohli (7), all caught by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, there was no resistance as India lost six wickets for 22 runs in the post lunch session.
Craig Overton (3/14 in 10.3 overs), Ollie Robinson (2/16 in 10 overs) and Sam Curran (2/27 in 10 overs) didn't loosen the straglehold after Anderson's first assault as India failed build on a single significant partnership.
The best part about 39-yearold Anderson's bowling during that opening session was his masterful use of strategy. For someone, who primarily relies on outswing as his stock ball, he changed his tactic and used the outgoing delivery as a shock ball after pegging back the batters with incoming deliveries. Rahul, the in-form batsman, went for an expansive drive early to a delivery that moved a shade in the air with a wobbly seam and took his outside edge into Buttler's gloves.
Pujara, who is going through the worst phase of his international career, got a conventional outswinger after a few in-cutters, and Anderson forced the batsman to have a feel for the delivery. Kohli hit an off-drive for three runs but it was amply clear that the Indian captain was suffering from both technical and mind set issues with Anderson picking him once again like it has been his day job for several years. While Kohli had slightly tweaked his front-foot movement but he dangled his bat away from his body to offer
Buttler his third catch of the innings.
At 21 for three, Rahane came in and was in a bit of trouble against Moeen Ali despite the fact that he got a few boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking.