England could hardly hide their irritation after three chances went begging inside the first quarter of an hour of India’s second innings. Those spills – two in the cordon and a simple one on the rope – allowed the visitors to close day two 52 runs ahead with eight wickets intact, a handy cushion on a surface offering pace and bite.
The most costly miss, at least in the moment, came when Yashasvi Jaiswal, already bustling along, top-edged a hook off Josh Tongue straight to long leg. Substitute fielder Liam Dawson never budged, the ball never swerved, yet it slipped straight through his hands and clattered into his chest. His sunglasses were perched uselessly on the brim; whether sun or floodlights caused the mis-judgement nobody really knew, but England sighed in unison. Jaiswal, on 40 then, soon cantered to a 44-ball fifty.
Harry Brook had grassed the same opener on 20 at second slip, while Zak Crawley spilled Sai Sudharsan at third. All three were regulation for players at this level. Crawley’s was England’s 15th drop of the series – India sit on 20 – and memories are still raw of slip-ups in Manchester that let Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja set the match agenda.
“You’re always frustrated when you miss opportunities,” Marcus Trescothick, the assistant coach, said afterwards. “Of course, we pride ourselves on being very good in those sorts of areas, but it just didn’t happen. We all know how important they are and we all know how tough catches can be – especially in the slips – so [we are] disappointed, but it is what it is.”
England batted only 51.2 overs earlier in the day and looked a little flat as the evening session wore on, but Trescothick would not lean on fatigue as an excuse. “I don’t think that’ll be anything to do with it,” he insisted. “It just happens over the course of some days and some games. It’s just the game, as we see it.”
Despite the mini-slide, the former opener reckons the contest is still alive. “There’s more life in it,” he said, describing a pitch that has offered seam movement, bounce and carry throughout. “There’s more pace, more seam movement, and we’re at the extreme version of what we see in those types of pitches, but it’s definitely what we like.
“We want pace on the ball, we want the ball to bounce and we want the ball to carry through so that when we’re batting, we can be aggressive, we can attack, and we can put pressure back on the bowlers; and when we’re bowling, if we get opportunities and we catch the edge, hopefully it will carry through… We’re very happy with how [the pitch] has performed so far.”
For England, the equation feels simple enough: hold the next chance, rein in India quickly, and trust their batting to chase on a brisk track. For now, though, the scorebook shows three drops, a sprightly Indian lead, and a home side with work to do.
