Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

England left looking exposed and vulnerable as Virat Kohli works his magic to put India in full control of third Test

England (161 & 23-0) need 498 more runs to beat India (329 & 352-7d)

Jonathan Liew
Trent Bridge
Monday 20 August 2018 18:38 BST
Comments
Joe Root's men are staring defeat in the face in this third Test
Joe Root's men are staring defeat in the face in this third Test

Finally, at 4.08pm, Trent Bridge came alive. A roar that began in the Fox Road undulated with devastating speed around the entire ground, which even on a Monday was packed to capacity. James Anderson stalked purposefully back to his mark, serenaded by songs of ‘Oh, Jimmy Jimmy’. The atmosphere was electric.

What had generated this outpouring of emotion? Well, Anderson had just induced Virat Kohli into a couple of false shots outside off-stump. Paltry stuff, perhaps. But then, when India are 442 runs ahead with only three wickets down, you rather have to take your pleasures where you can get them.

And that was day three in Nottingham: a day that began with India in total command and ended much the same way, the only tangible changes the wearying feet of England’s bowlers and fielders, the throbbing finger of Jonny Bairstow, the embarrassment of Keaton Jennings and the growing inebriation of the Trent Bridge crowd desperate for something – anything – to acclaim.

Virat Kohli salutes the crowd as he leaves the pitch after getting out lbw for 103 runs

Kohli’s 23rd Test century was certainly an innings to cheer the neutrals, even if he enjoyed more than a stroke of luck in being dropped calamitously by Jennings on 93. By stumps, Jennings and Alastair Cook had whittled the target down to 498, and with two days remaining in the game England should have plenty of time for a round of golf on Wednesday, should they want one.

At some point on Tuesday, then, India will almost certainly reduce their series deficit to 2-1 ahead of the fourth Test at Southampton next week. And if the lavish lead they built seems a touch conservative given England had scored only 499 across their last three innings at Trent Bridge, then India’s run rate of 2.89 over the day – itself inflated by some thrashing from Hardik Pandya – suggested they were in pursuit of more than victory.

No, they didn’t just want to beat England: they wanted to break them. To bore them out. To wear out bodies and minds ahead of the final two games, to erode England’s confidence while simultaneously inflating their own, perhaps even to exacerbate a niggle or two. They wouldn’t have been delighted by the broken finger suffered by Bairstow that forced him off the field for most of the day, but they won’t have been entirely dismayed either. If Bairstow is unable to bat in Southampton, England’s batting order will be forced into further upheaval.

Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli run between the wickets as James Anderson watches on

One thing is for certain: all of a sudden, what had the ring of an unassailable 2-0 lead after the Lord’s Test is beginning to feel increasingly vulnerable.

Buttler took the gloves in place of Bairstow, who was pinged on the left middle finger by a rising delivery from Anderson to put the fetid gloss on a lamentable morning for England. Buttler had already besmirched himself by dropping a low chance at second slip off Cheteshwar Pujara, and for all the laudable industry of England’s seamers, what they lacked was that extra little twinkle we may as well call belief. India cruised to lunch without further loss.

Pujara followed Kohli to his half-century and eventually made it to 72, his highest Test score in England. Ben Stokes finally had him caught at slip to enormous cheers, but after Pujara came Ajinkya Rahane, stubbornly sticking around with Kohli as England looked increasingly bereft of ideas. Joe Root brought himself on for a few overs of leg-side filth. Stuart Broad trundled in at about 80 per cent. Adil Rashid wheeled away for most of the afternoon, but struggled to hit anything resembling a full enough length.

Anderson returned to bowl a tight spell either side of tea with the second new ball. But when he finally found Kohli’s edge on 93, and Jennings at gully not only failed to catch the ball but failed to touch it entirely, despite it going straight to him, Anderson had finally had enough. He bent over, grasped his heads in his hands, breathed a bad word into his shins, and perhaps even wondered – like Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon – whether he might just be too old for this shift.

Cheteshwar Pujara hits a shot as Jos Buttler looks on

Still, Chris Woakes was still charging in with all the relish and gusto of a newly-crowned employee of the month. And not long after the reprieved Kohli reached his century, Woakes got him: a fine delivery nipping back into the stumps, justifying the fuller length with which Woakes had been persevering all day. Rishabh Pant came and went, Rashid nipped out a couple of cheap scalps towards the end, and finally, with India’s lead in excess of the 502 Middlesex had chased down to beat Nottinghamshire here in 1925, Kohli finally decided India were safe.

All of which left Jennings and Cook a tricky nine-over spell at the end of the day. Time enough for two or possibly even three wickets, if England’s recent record is anything to go by. But despite a few alarms at the hands of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Ravi Ashwin, England’s intrepid nightwatchmen made it heroically to stumps.

As Cook negotiated the last ball of the day, another almighty roar went up, a roar to rival Cardiff in 2009 or The Oval in 1953 or any of the other great triumphs of English cricketing history. They won’t win, of course. They probably won’t even get close. But at the very least, England’s target on day four should at least be to give this fine Nottingham crowd something genuine to cheer.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in