England made a solid start in order to re-establish their lost glory in the third Investec test match at Southampton. At stumps on day 1, England has taken a giant stride forward in order to make a comeback in the ongoing series as they have finished the day in a comfortable position.
Winning the toss England decided to bat first on a pitch that looked easier to bat on than that of the previous one. England took total advantage of that as at the end of the day’s play they are on 247/2 with Ian Bell and Gary Ballance unbeaten in the crease. The English batsmen survived few scares early on as there were dropped chances and missed run out opportunities but never-the-less they managed to survive. Alistair Cook finally got some respectable amount of runs and got a standing ovation when he walked out after getting out on 95. He was dropped early on by Ravindra Jadeja at slip when he was only on 15. Gary Ballance also continued his good run in the tournament with his third century, second in this series, as he played an important role in building up the partnership with Cook. He is not out at the crease with Bell on 104.
Indian bowling attack suffered a major blow when Ishant Sharma was ruled out just before the match had started. Young Pankaj Singh came in as Ishant’s replacement and he looked tidy as he bowled well without much luck though. Cook was dropped off his bowling and later in the 
day Ian Bell survived an lbw shout which umpire Rod Tucker turned down. Mohammad Shami got the wicket of Sam Robson in the first session while the only other wicket went to Ravindra Jadeja when he scalped Alistair Cook on 95.
As it seems that the pitch may just turn out to be a paradise for the batsmen as the match progresses, there is big doubt whether there will be any result at the end of the five day’s play. England’s slow run rate did not help that cause either. Only thing that may force a result out of this match is a poor batting show from the Indians as this pitch seems just the perfect one for the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to blossom.
Tags: India-England Test Investec Test Match
