England vs India, Third Test: Day One review

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Dan in Tests

India 224 all out (Dhoni 77, Bresnan 4-63, Broad 4-52)

England 84/0 (Strauss 52*, Cook 27*)

In a sentence

A familiar tale as England’s pace attack blew the much vaunted Indian batting line-up away for a sub-par total.

Player of the day

All the seamers bowled impressively in what were admittedly friendly conditions, especially before lunch, but Tim Bresnan just about pips Stuart Broad as both took four wickets. Kudos to MS Dhoni who finally looked in a semblance of batting form and whose 77 just about gave India a glimmer of hope, however brief.

Moments of the day

Bresnan’s leg cutter to gain the crucial wicket of Rahul Dravid – how often do you see him lose his off stump? – was as good a delivery as you’ll see. The tone of the day really was set with the first ball of the second over as the returning Virender Sehwag was given out on referral after gloving Broad’s shortish ball through to Matt Prior. He may be more underdone than steak tartare, but you still would be wary of letting him get his eye in.

Outlook for tomorrow

With England set fair and all 10 wickets in hand, they will be in a positive mindset to bat India out of the game completely and set up yet another mammoth task for them to save the series. The forecast is for a showery day, but we should get plenty of overs in. The Indian attack really needs to step up their game as without significant improvement, this game will be beyond them in 24 hours’ time.