England are making their mark in the first test at Chennai. They have got hosts India in big trouble after posting a massive 578 runs on the board. The pitch is slowly opening up and helping England bowlers lot more than what it offered in the first two days.
Their bowlers started in the right rhythm with both Jofra Archer and James Anderson looked brilliant in the opening spell. Archer was able to extract extra bounce because of his pace and height.
Rohit Sharma was made to play at a brilliant ball by Archer. The English bowler bowled it short and onto the stumps. The ball bounced a bit extra and Sharma had no time to react because of Archer’s extra pace.
He nicked it and keeper Jos Buttler took a regulation catch. It has been a disappointing outing for the veteran cricketer. The Indian batsmen were expected to perform more responsibly as the onus was on the players to deliver with the bat.
On the other hand, England bowlers were able to continue their carnage by picking important wickets at crucial stages. Rohit Sharma will be disappointing with the way he was dismissed, but a lot of credit has to go to Jofra Archer for forcing him to poke at that ball.
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India are reeling at 76/4 at the time of writing with Pujara and Pant trying to repair the damage. Young off spinner Dominic Bess was able to get crucial wickets of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane in successive overs.
The hosts need to put on a miraculous comeback if they are to stay in this test match. England are firmly ahead and will look to attack India. India needs to bat as long as possible and reduce the deficit.
Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara are India’s best run scorers in Australia. They will need to play another brilliant innings to help India get out of this massive crisis. England bowlers are looking fresh but it will be interesting to see if they could manage to stay upbeat if a big partnership is put up.
