England skipper Joe Root and left-hander Dawid Malan played magnificently to help their team extend the first-innings advantage over India past 300 runs on Day 2 of the third Test at Headingley.
While the captain scored his third hundred for the series, Malan missed out by his own century. But together, they piled on the agony for the visitors and nearly took one result out of the equation.
Heading into Thursday, the three lions had a 42-run lead – having dismissed the tourists for just 78 on Day 1 – with both their openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed not out overnight.
The duo has put 135 runs for the opening wicket, providing England their best start with the bat in a long time. But just when it seemed they are both set to reach big hundreds, the Indian team struck twin blows, with Mohammed Shami getting Burns out for 61 and Ravindra Jadeja dismissing Hameed on 68.
India had a reasonably good first session, with hardly any runs given away and two set England openers sent back to the pavilion. However, their hopes of maintaining the pressure and building inroads after the lunch break were dispatched by Root and Malan, especially Root who continued his imperious touch with the bat.
Root looked in complete control against an Indian attack that had one of its collectively worst outings on a surface, becoming so much more batter-friendly than it was on the opening day, where the ball seamed late with some disconcerting bounce.
Displaying signs of a great batsman, before anyone could focus on the scoreboard, Root was already past fifty and offered no respite to Indians even after the first milestone. His excellent batting kept the pressure off Malan, who could just focus on quietly building his innings without having to worry about the run-scoring.
The partnership of 139 runs was finally broken in a disappointing fashion, with Malan edging a flick off Mohammed Siraj’s bowling down the leg side. Soon Root was also sent back on 121 by a peach of a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, who was the pick of the Indian bowlers on the day with just one wicket to show for his efforts. When it seemed that the England skipper is in for a long haul, Bumrah dislodged his middle-stump with a full-pitched delivery that he looked to drive through the off-side.
In between the wickets of Malan and Root, Shami, who was bowling in fantastic rhythm through the day, got Jonny Bairstow (29) and Jos Buttler (7) in quick succession.
Following Root’s wicket, Jadeja had Moeen Ali (8) miscueing a drive to mid-on. At the same time, Siraj, who would be the first one to admit that he was off the radar for sustained periods on Day 2, came back and dismissed Sam Curran for 15 just when he was stitching a nice stand with Craig Overton (24*).
England eventually finished the day at 423/8, with an enormous lead of 345 runs next to their name and still three days to go in the contest. They might feel a touch disappointed, for they would’ve hoped for much more significant contributions from their lower middle-order.
But by and large, they are in a position where India would require a miracle to leave Headingley without the serious honours shared.
For Indians, what would be a cause of great dismay is the way their most experienced quick Ishant Sharma bowled. Ishant seemed underfit from the outside, hardly ever putting his body behind the ball and failing to provide his team control – something that is rarely associated with him.
Brief scores
England 423/8 (Joe Root 121, Dawid Malan 70; Mohammed Shami 3/87, Ravindra Jadeja 2/88) lead India 78 all out (Rohit Sharma 19, Ajinkya Rahane 18; James Anderson 3/6, Craig Overton 3/14) by 345 runs
