England level series with innings victory at Headingly

After the brave resistance from the Indian batters on Day 3, any hope of a draw was short-lived as it all ended in a hurry on the fourth morning with the Men in Blue succumbing to the pressure of the 2nd new ball to lose the 3rd Test by an innings and 76 runs. All it took was 19.3 overs in the morning session for England to wrap up the victory as Virat Kohli’s side lost eight wickets for only 63 runs with the Indian middle order struggling against the moving ball. For England, Ollie Robinson claimed his second 5-fer of the series (5-65) in the 2nd innings to help the hosts level the series at 1-1 going into the final two matches.

India began the day 138 runs behind the England target with Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease following their unbeaten 99-run partnership on Day three. England drew first blood in the morning, with India unable to even add to their overnight score with Cheteshwar Pujara dismissed nine runs short of his century. Pujara misjudged an inswinger from Ollie Robinson and opted to leave a ball that nipped back in to strike him on the pads which was given out after a review from Joe Root.

At the other end, Virat Kohli’s struggles with balls outside off stump continued with the Indian captain surviving a caught behind decision that was overturned after a review before eventually nicking one behind to Joe Root at first slip for 55.

India capitulated following the loss of the two overnight batsmen, with Ajinkya Rahane falling to James Anderson an over later before Rishabh Pant edged one to Craig Overton at third slip to leave the Men in Blue reeling at 239-6. Ravindra Jadeja hung around with the tail to delay the inevitable, but Moeen Ali produced a jaffa to remove Mohammad Shami before Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton cleaned up the lower-order within the morning session to cap off an excellent performance from England to win by an innings and 76 runs.

England completely dominated the tourists across the four days of this Test at Headingley, and given the performance of Joe Root and the seamers, the hosts will be confident of turning the series around in the remaining two Test matches.

For India, this is only the second innings defeat under Virat Kohli’s captaincy – after the Pink Ball Test in Adelaide – and the biggest worry for the visitors will be the poor performance from the batters who were dismissed for 78 in the first innings and 63-8 on the fourth morning.