Live Blog: England vs India, Day 3, Trent Bridge

Live Blog: England vs India, Day 3, Trent Bridge

Tweets on England’s dominant position at the end of Day 3 –

@cricketwallah - India's bowling has been plundered for over 400 runs today. Harbhajan has conceded only 47 of these, but is the biggest worry in the attack.@cricketaakash - One could understand this scoring rate if we'd bowled 140 overs..tired bowlers, flat track etc. But not after 75 overs on a responsive pitch@warne888 - England just scored 400 runs in a day - tremendous batting - India have been very poor today & do not look like the number 1 side in world ! @ZaltzCricket - India now officially bowling total garbage. Their heads couldn't be any more down if they were the French royal family in the early 1790s.@cricketaakash - Fast bowlers needed support (not so much wickets) but unfortunately it wasn't forthcoming. Staring down a hopelessly dark tunnel #engvind11.07 pm - A brilliant response by England on a day that they started under tremendous pressure. England started Day 3 on 24-1 and ended it at 441-6; adding a mammoth 417 runs on the day. India's bowling was shoddy as was their ground fielding to an extent; Dhoni's captaincy left a lot to be desired but his decision to call back Ian Bell will be a talking point for months, if not years. That apart, England were all over India today with Bell making 159 of the best Test runs one can hope to see. Pietersen, Morgan and Prior all chipped in with half-centuries. Prior and Tim Bresnan (47*) have so far added an unbeaten 102 runs in 18.2 overs for the seventh wicket as England lead India by 374 runs; and look all set to unseat India as the world's No. 1 Test team. England have shown the hunger and desire for most of the first eight days of the series; unfortunately the same can't be said of India. This was an eventful day of Test cricket that won't be forgotten in a hurry as much as for England's brilliance on the field that is likely to be overshadowed by the scenes just before Tea time.

10.27 pm - Prior continues to be a bane for India; in fact for the third time in four innings in this series. The runs continue to flow and far too quickly for India's liking as Prior and Bresnan are scoring at a brisk pace; the two breakthroughs that Praveen got with the new ball have been rendered useless thanks to some shoddy bowling by Ishant and Sreesanth. The field continues to be defensive; Dhoni hopes and continues to wait for things to happen for his rather than make things happen; and Prior has just brought up his half-century off only 38 balls. Advantage England!

10.14 pm - England have just extended their lead to 300 runs; and though India has time on their side, this will be a difficult target to chase down in the fourth innings. Matt Prior is looking positive and is stringing together an useful partnership with Tim Bresnan. Indian bowlers continue to have an on-off day; largely the latter.9.51 pm - Praveen has been brilliant with the new ball and does dismiss Trott for 2 as he gloves an outswinger to Dravid at slip. No umpire is turning that down! But, umpire Erasmus is in the thick of things again as he turns down yet another plumb LBW off Praveen against Tim Bresnan. Is he going to risk the BCCI and Indian team's ire ala Daryl Harper who was rushed into retirement?9.34 pm - Umpire Erasmus's nightmare of a Test continues as he turns down a confident LBW shout by Praveen against Trott off the first ball faced by the batsman. It was plumb though as Praveen's sharp indipper hit Trott in front of the off stump and would have gone on to hit the leg stump. Trott is lucky and India continues to pay for their aversion to the ball-tracking technology.9.32 pm - India were desperately waiting for the new ball to be taken and Praveen Kumar duly obliges as he gets Morgan to edge an outswinger to Dhoni; which brings an injured Jonathan Trott to the middle.9.25 pm - That 'golden arm' - Yuvraj Singh - gets the much-needed breakthrough for India shortly before the second new ball is due to be taken as he dismisses Ian Bell for a very well-made 159 off 206 deliveries. Bell added only 22 runs after he was reprieved in a run-out controversy (which has been detailed in previous posts); but he has put England in pole position. And, in a further display of bonhomie between the teams, Sreesanth and Dravid congratulated Bell on a well-played knock as he walked back to the dressing room. Morgan has looked extremely good in the post-tea session and has extended England's advantage on Day 3.9.12 pm - Coming back to the post-tea session, Morgan is batting beautifully as is Bell. Morgan could have probably saved his Test spot with this counter-attacking half-century. While the Indian bowling is shoddy and the fielding is not the best either; Dhoni's gesture may have taken the spotlight away from that aspect for the moment. And, umpire Marais Erasmus, can you please wake up and do your job? He is having a horrendous Test match; while his on-field colleague Asad Rauf is at the other end of the equation having made some outstanding decisions.9.09 pm - David Lloyd commentating on Star Cricket has just informed that Strauss and Flower had a word with Dhoni and Fletcher in the Tea break and asked them if the appeal would be reconsidered. Dhoni consulted with the team and then decided to rescind the appeal - all said and done; those mad five minutes after the initial appeal apart, this is a decision that Dhoni deserves to be lauded for and he has set the benchmark for other international captains to follow. Good on you, Dhoni after all, for keeping with the spirit of this beautiful game.9.06 pm - While the official version of the events of the Tea break are still awaited, England have batted themselves into the driver's seat in the Test as they cross the 300-run mark. Morgan has made an attacking half-century; while Bell has been cautious after the Tea break and has just brought up a well-deserved 150. Please let's not get into whether he should have got to this landmark in the first place; that's a whole new debate!

Tweets on the Bell run-out reversal –

@warne888 - Umpires handled the situation extremely well.. Dhoni reverses his decision at tea break - politics in sport or the right thing ? Thoughts ?@VaughanCricket - Great sportsmanship from India to reinstate Ian Bell..@cricketaakash -  Well done, Dhoni. Well done, Team India :) #lovestestcricket@sardesairajdeep - thank you dhoni for restoring my faith in you and this great game. you are a champion. now, lets beat the english! gnight.@SANJAYMANJREKAR - Ian bell was being very casual, almost careless, walking off before a definitve call from umpire for boundary or tea & deserved to be out.8.51 pm - Nothing to take away from Dhoni - this is a brave decision, but he had 20 minutes to think about it; and he declined to overturn the appeal initially on the ground. That said, he has set a precedent for international captains, and needs to be applauded for his stand, even though it may hurt India. Let's put this issue to rest for the moment though and focus on Morgan getting into the thick of things at Trent Bridge.8.47 pm - Sunil Gavaskar on commentary is being a bit melodramatic when he continues to bat for the DRS and takes a dig at the England team and Trent Bridge's lack of applaude for Dravid's century. The Indian team as a whole doesn't acknowledge the opposition's landmarks either and who can forget the booing that Pakistan great Javed Miandad got while he was walking off in his last international match at Bangalore. Was that sporting?8.37 pm - Well, well, well .... boos rang out loud and clear when the umpires and the Indian players came on to the field but it soon turned to cheers when Eoin Morgan, and ... Ian Bell came out of the England dressing room. Ravi Shastri is being a bit of a sarcastic pain by going on and on about Bell coming back and Dhoni withdrawing the appeal in the dressing room; but the question persists why didn't MSD withdraw the field on the ground when the umpires gave him that option before the players left the field for Tea. And, would Shastri have taken the same stance if the situation involved an Indian cricketer? India would probably have been within the laws had they stayed with the appeal; but that spirit that they spoke about after the Sydney Test will have been on the other foot. That said, Dhoni has taken the right decision, though belatedly, and he will be the most popular person in England right now.Some more tweets on that issue:@achettup - Morgan actually tells Bell to get back, Bell presumes and acts incredibly arrogant... ignores the umpires, ignores his partner.. deserves it@venkatananth - Sourav says he would have overturned the appeal. Top man. Agree with Dada that Bell wasn't trying to run the fourth run.@cricketanalyst - Bell run out assuming the ball had gone for 4 last ball before tea. Not v sporting conduct by india.Aakash Chopra tweets on the Bell run-out issue: “Bizarre...that's how I'd describe this run-out. Legitimate by the book...not sure about the spirit though!”  AND “Reminds me of our Ranji finals...Vadodara did something similar. Created a lot of bad blood.”And, the bad blood is something Test cricket and the Indian team can do without. Let's see what happens at the start of the third session though.8.25 pm - Interesting tea-time conversation at the Sky Cricket studio. Ganguly feels Dhoni should have overturned his appeal; but Lloyd says Bell had left his ground so India were justified in their stance. Ganguly adds this could open up a can of worms as batsmen of both sides would need to be careful while leaving the wicket for the rest of the series. He says this is not the best way to take a wicket. Let's wait and watch if Bell comes out in the third session; whichever way this is going to leave a sour taste in the mouth.8.19 pm – Unfortunate end to a terrific knock from Ian Bell as he is run out after scoring 137 off 178 balls. Is this the luck that India wanted to go their way? Morgan flicks the last ball of the second session bowled by Ishant Sharma to deep square, and the batsmen probably going by the fielder’s confusion assumed the ball had touched the boundary rope and casually crossed over though the umpire had neither signalled a boundary or called for tea. After an eon, Bell was in my opinion, rightly declared run out but this is yet another controversy this Test is going to spark off. A splendid knock by Bell though that was ended by his own carelessness. This could just be the fortune that India could have been waiting for.7.59 pm - Harbhajan back on the field but is still looking in a fair bit of discomfort. Apparently, Dravid is off the field too.7.41 pm - Eoin Morgan has come to the middle to play what could probably be a career-saving innings in the immediate future in the longest format of the game. Sreesanth is an aggressive character and thrives when he is under the kosher; the crowd have booed him and he comes in and gets Pietersen to edge a loose shot to Dhoni behind the stumps. Morgan has already hit a couple of boundaries and Bell continues to motor on. The pitch has flattened out but the run-scoring has been made easier by Dhoni's odd tactic of spreading the field wide which has helped the batsmen score easy boundaries. India's best chance of chasing a gettable total seems to be if they can see Bell's back in a hurry, if at all.7.24 pm - Harbhajan is apparently off the field; not sure what the problem is. An update as soon as we get one. Meanwhile, the Nottingham crowd still hasn't forgiven Sreesanth for that disgusting caught and bowled appeal against Bell on the first day and are booing him loudly!7.18 pm - Indian players looking deflated; Dhoni's captaincy has lacked imagination and he looks to be paying dearly for his defensive tactics through Day 3. There are plenty of gaps in the field and while the pitch appears to have eased out; batting still had to be good and Bell and Pietersen are putting on an exhibition of some fine aggressive Test batting and scoring at a fast rate. Problems galore for India and the match has turned on its head yet again courtesy Bell and Pietersen.

6.58 pm - Ian Bell has just scored one of the best Test centuries in a pressure situation one will ever see; it's his 15th Test century and first against India. It is also Bell's first Test century at the No. 3 position. The Trent Bridge crowd have been treated to two fine contrasting hundreds - Dravid weathered the storm and displayed exemplary technique and concentration; whereas Bell has been a lot more attacking and has made the Indian attack look like novices. Bell scored his century off only 129 balls; and with Pietersen stepping on the accelerator in the post-lunch session and getting to his own half-century, things are looking ominous for India.

Aakash Chopra makes a valid point on Twitter: “No Ishant in the post-lunch session at Lord's when Eng was 62/5 n no Sreesanth here straight after lunch. Defies logic.”6.42 pm - England have scored 33 runs in the first seven overs in the post-lunch session with Pietersen starting to play the brand of cricket he is known for. Bell continues to be solid and looks good for a big 100+ score if he keeps his wits around him. Praveen has been good early in the post-lunch session but Ishant is showing signs of tiring; and Dhoni continues to have a nightmarish time behind the stumps. The match is still even despite England having scored at a fast clip on Day 3 but they have been helped by some lacklustre and insipid Indian bowling. Can Harbhajan actually make an impact in the match? Important spell for him.6.32 pm - Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has been getting a fair bit of abuse through the day after his ‘Vaseline’ tweet about Laxman yesterday.

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