England once again trounced India as England won by a massive a innings and 242 runs. This was the much anticipated of Sehwag and Gambhir back to together seen as the hope for India as they looked to hold onto there world number 1. He got his chance to shine straight away as England won the toss and elected to ball on a overcast morning.
1st Innings India: The dream for the first innings only lasted 1 over as the first ball to Sehwag he nicked to the wicket-keeper and he was gone for a golden duck. This brought out the man known as The Wall Dravid. Him and Gambhir seemed to be confortably getting through the overs against the England bowling attack until Bresnan came on to get Gambhir driving at a full straight ball which he edged onto his own stumps and India going to 58-2. The applause for Tendulkar was big but the innings was not as a few overs later Broad got a ball full and straight which just had late swing and Tendulkar not seeing the swing had a go went straight to the slips for Anderson to take a sharp catch. It went to bad to worse for India as the over before lunch as Bresnan bowled the Dravid as he bowled a perfect in swinging ball to take the 4th wicket before at the stroke of lunch. That also justified Strauss's decision to ball first as it looked at one stage 30 minutes before lunch India might go in with 1 wicket down.
Straight after lunch England continued to put pressure of the batsman determined not to let any runs go or bowl any bad balls to release some pressure on the batsman. This ploy worked as the hopelessly out of form Raina fell under the pressure as Anderson bowled for just 4 runs. As so many times in this series when one Indian wicket falls that soon becomes 2 or 3 wickets falling as Laxman followed soon afterwards pulling a ball straight to Broad a horrible shot. He was followed quickly by Mishra who didnt use any foot movement and edged a ball from Broad and Prior had a easy catch as he went out for 4. Being 111-7 and Dhoni being the last known batsman he decided to go on a counter attacking innings. Blocking and nudging hadnt worked for him through-out the series and him and Kumar put on a fun and exciting partnership. It had that felling of a Broad and Swann innings at Trent Bridge. Dhoni got to 50 and for the first time he looked comfortable and looked like enjoying his innings. Kumar also seemed to feed off this energy as both men were rattling the score along. Frustrating the England bowlers and the partnership had gone on to 84 when Bresnan got a horrible bouncer delivery that touched flicked the bat along the way. At first umpire Davis didnt give it but on review it was over-turned and Kumar out or 26.
Dhoni continued his entertaining innings as he got the score over 200 and seemed to be looking at a score of around 250 which would be a achievement from where they were but he just went for one too many hits and edged a ball from Broad which went to the only slip Strauss and he took it safely. The next over England finished off the innings as Sharma got a bouncer that he could only glove and Cook diving to take a good low catch to finish the innings off. Broad and Bresnan taking 4 wickets a piece and Anderson taking 2 while Swann was ineffective as he conceded 4 overs for 22 runs with no wickets and no maidens. But a near perfect bowling performance by England with Dhoni and Kumar putting up the only resistance.
England's first Innings: The England response was brutal and this was lead by the openers. The openers hadnt performed yet in this England team until this test match. There first job was to bat out the rest of day 1 and they did with ease as rattled to 89-0 at the close of day 1. Strauss looking the better of the 2 as Cook's confident seemed to have taken a battering after the first 2 test failures. The bowling didnt get much better day 2 as England score eased up quickly. Even the delay of 30 minutes at the start didnt slow England down. Some glorious shots were as both men went past 50 by lunch as England were in a extremely strong position 157-0 at lunch with Strauss on 84 NO and Cook making 51 NO. It wasnt a fluent innings by Cook but it was a battling innings by him and this gave him confidence as after lunch he was able to score much more freer. While Cook got quicker Strauss got slower as he looked to be closing in on a well deserved century. But as he started to not play his natural game he was starting to struggle getting any sort of runs on the board and this built pressure and he gave his wicket away on 87 as Mishra bowled him around the legs as England lost there first wicket at 186.
Bell in at number 3 and he got to work straight away on the back of a score of 150 plus he was able to start the innings at a rate of nots. With runs coming easily Cook raced into the lead becoming the new top scorer as he went into the nervy 90s. What helped him put pressure off himself was Bell aggressive play so the runs were being scored at a good rate so he could wait for the bad ball to come his way. Also Bell's scoring help Cook in that bad balls were being bowled quite regularly and he got a ball on his legs to clip away to get his century off 213 balls with 14 fours. But soon afterwards Bell played one too many shots on the front foot and he missed a pitched up ball and he was out for 34 being 252-2 being already 28 runs ahead. This brought out Kevin Pietersen and he wasnt in the mood to be sympathetic as he went after the bowling from bowl one. He was clipping the ball to the boundary he was stepping down the pitch the fast bowlers and he was dismissing the leg spinner just going after ever bowl he was bowling. With Kevin Pietersen playing how he did it allowed Cook to continue to bat on how he was playing and this combination seemed to be working a treat as the bowling got more tired and the score was quickly going away from India. Pietersen got to his 50 in just 53 balls. It was quickly followed by Cook's 150 as he looked unstoppable in getting it in 268 balls 23 fours and 380 minutes reminiscent of the innings he did at the Ashes against Australia. The fun was shortly dampened as Kumar trapped Kevin Pietersen in front for 63 however England were 150 in the lead as he went.
This was a perfect position for Morgan to come into play his natural game and he hit a quick 44 before the close but that was helped by 2 dropped catches by India as Sreesanth dropped a easy catch at point and the ever reliable Dravid on the final over of the day dropped a catch at slip a easy catch and he went off frustrated 456-3 England ended on. With Cook on 182 NO making that "daddy hundred" that the batting coach demands. Day 3 and the bowlers already looking tired and jaded Morgan and Cook seemed to turn the screw even a bit of rain coming on and off didnt stop England. First Morgan moved to 50 before the first quick shower. After they came back out another 100 partnership was sorted out and then Cook got to another incredible double century by Cook as he got there in 378 balls with 27 fours and 521 minutes. This painful partnership just went on and on and no rain break or bad light stopped this pair the more they went off the quicker they came out. The score went to 450-500-550 and still no sign of a wicket to fall at any time. Morgan now getting close to a century got to 99 and Dhoni gave Morgan the best birthday present of all to get to a well worked century by bowling Raina and he reached a solid century by giving Morgan a long-hop. Though it was Raina who did break the partnership in his next over as Morgan edged a ball to Sehwag as the partnership of 222 was broken.
Poor Bopara having to wait that long to try and prove himself and when he came in he had nothing to gain and waiting all that long to have a go he only made 7 before Mishra trapped him LBW. That was quickly followed by another wicket as Prior looking to get the scoring on quickly top edged a Mishra bowl and Tendulkar took a good catch on the deep. In between all that Cook got to another milestone as he got to 250. Now it was a matter of when will they declare and the mood was that they will wait till he reaches 300 before calling it a day. While tried to get that Bresnan joined in the party with him smashing the ball miles everywhere. The runs piling in as Bresnan was having his fun Cook edging slowing to 300 England got to another milestone in style as they made 700 by hitting a 6 by Bresnan getting to his half century off 73 balls 6 fours and that massive 6. With him on 294 Cook tried a expansive way to get to 300 by going for a massive 6 he didnt get it right and Raina took a good catch as he went out for 294 and England declaring at 710-7 with a lead of 486 to make England bat again.
India's second innings: With a tricky 12 over period left in the days play the openers knew they had to fight in there till the end. Well one of them knew as a incredibly Sehwag played another awful shot from a poor ball and edged it straight to the slips and once again he was out for a golden duck and making it a king pair first ball in both innings. It let Dravid come out once again early in. Him and Gambhir had to fight to stay in for the rest of the day with Gambhir getting a little luck as he was given not out with a LBW decision and at the end of the days play 35-1 as bad light stopped them bowling the last over. England full of confidence as they started day 3 like a rocket. First over ball 2 Anderson he got Gambhir to got for a little push at a ball went flying to second slip and took a really good catch. Another standing observation for Tendulkar and nearly another quick exit as he got a beauty first up. Tendulkar might have survived but next over Anderson got a beauty which seemed to just click the bat and nothing Dravid could do and seemed to have gone to the keeper. He was given and Dravid walked off however replays showed he hit his shoelace and if reviewed would have stayed in. Not even a hour gone another wicket fell as Anderson got a ball to lift on Laxman which did find the edge and India were 56-4 looking at a heavy defeat.
If England were a bit sharper on the field they would have had another wicket soon after drinks break as they dropped Raina on 0 from Swann's bowling. Strauss missing a hard catch. Swann was causing Raina a lot of trouble as he enjoys bowling to left handers he tormented Raina throughout and as soon as hot to double figures Swann trapped Raina for just 10. The only one who seemed to be playing with ease was Tendulkar. He seemed to be more positive in his approach and was scoring runs freely but just as hopes were rising of a special 100 100s at the score of 40 he was out in the worst way. Dhoni hit a ball from Swann straight down the ground Swann got a hand to the ball it rolled onto the other stumps with Tendulkar outside his ground and he had to given run out on review. This was the best he looked all series and India were down and out at 89-6. Dhoni and Mishra were able to get to lunch with even having a big over before lunch hitting Pietersen for 11 runs off the final over.
Mishra cameo was soon over after lunch as Broad pitched a ball up that Mishra hit up in the air and Swann took a good catch running backwards as England closed in on that world number 1. Dhoni and Kumar again were left together and did the same thing they did in the first innings swinging and playing counter attack cricket. This provided a lot of entertaining cricket for the crowd who wanted to see a contest. They dragged the score over 150 went to 175 to getting the score to over 200. Kumar was playing a really entertaining innings with Dhoni even taking the main roll and was on for a good 50 but Broad brought back into the bowling attack gave a short ball which Kumar went for went straight to the deep point and the plan worked but Kumar scoting 40 off 18 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. It still gave enough time for Dhoni to get to another 50 in this innings playing another entertaining innings. Though getting to the 50 left Sharma exposed the next over as Broad bowled a full Yorker which trapped Sharma and after another few more shots by Dhoni at just past 3 PM in the afternoon Bresnan got Sreesanth to bowl India out for 244. England win by an innings and 242 runs Dhoni providing the only really resistance again.
This had a lot of implications as England become the number 1 team in the world by winning the series by at least 2 or more games. The man of the match went to Cook for that brilliant 294 and still this much talked about bating line-up have not made a score of 300 plus yet in the series. Still a lot to play for as England look to do there 3rd ever whitewash and India look to provide some pride that has been taken away from them throughout there series and show why they were world number 1. South Africa move to number 2 and India number 3 as they move on to the final venue the Oval.
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