India and England renew their rivalry as the fight to reclaim the virtual winner of the series goes into the 3rd Test as the two teams go head to head in Southampton on Sunday.
India and England renew their rivalry as the fight to reclaim the virtual winner of the series goes into the 3rd Test as the two teams go head to head in Southampton on Sunday. Under Alastair Cook’s captaincy, England are yet to win a Test (10 match losing streak) and will want to reclaim some pride at the Rose Bowl.
England were put through their paces after a demoralising defeat at Lord’s on Monday’s that saw the visitors go 1-0 up in the 5 match Test series. Alastair Cook and management had asked for a green top at the ‘Home of Cricket’ but the home side left themselves in shambles after a poor batting display against the likes of Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
England were left ‘hurt’ by some individual performances from the Indian side especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar who picked up 6 wickets in the 1st innings of the Lord’s Test whereas also contributed with the bat. Not to forget, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay were the major contributors with the bat in the 1st and 2nd innings respectively.
And the man of the match performance by Ishant Sharma where he picked up 7 wickets to sent the England team packing. England have been left hurt and demoralised especially with the exit of Matt Prior who has been replaced by uncapped Jos Buttler, who has vowed to fight for his place in the Test side.
The problems don’t stop there with Alastair Cook still struggling for runs as well with the captaincy issue, with many including Geoff Boycott calling for the former’s head. Ian Bell has been in patchy form and not to forget, the Ravindra Jadeja-Jimmy Anderson controversy seems to have hit the home side mentally.
On the other hand, Team India seems to have been proper shape coming into this 3rd Test at the Rose Bowl. Besides the worrying form of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni has no selection headaches going in this crucial contest. All-rounder Stuart Binny might lose his place with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin taking the spot. Gautam Gambhir might don the India whites as well as Rohit Sharma might be looked at as well.
The bowling department looks in fine tune as Ishant Sharma and co. would love to go at the Poms’ batsmen yet again.
Pitch curator at Southampton has revealed of a ‘sporting track’ will be awaiting both the teams. Whoever wins the toss, batting first will be crucial but bowlers can have a crack in the first hour or so. With a lot at stake, losing is not an option either for India or England!
