Hardik Pandya steals the limelight with a fifer; Michael Holding reacts

Team India entered the third Test at Trent Bridge after a massive drubbing at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. There were many expectations on the English team to defeat the visiting team and take an unassailable lead at Trent Bridge, Nottingham but that wasn’t the case as Indian team made a strong comeback in the third Test in both the concluded days.

While it was Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane’s show on Day 1, Hardik Pandya stole the limelight on Day 2 with a fifer. There were many questions on Pandya’s place in the XI before coming into this Test but with his five-wicket haul, the all-rounder proved his worth in the team. India gained a lead of 168 in the first innings after England bowled out for 161 runs.

Ahead of the third Test, former West Indies cricket Michael Holding stated that Hardik Pandya is not an all-rounder yet in the longest format of the game. But, the Indian all-rounder picked a fifer, which helped England team to lose all their 10 wickets in a single session. This was the third time, the English side lost all wickets in a single session since 2016.

“England lost 10 wickets in a session for the third time in the last two years but you have to say that the bowlers bowled well for India, Hardik Pandya in particular. He kept the ball up, which was so important, and it was swinging around. A couple of shots from the England batsmen were a little bit out of character, for instance Chris Woakes hooking at that ball. I don’t think that was advisable at that stage of the game,” wrote Michael Holding in his column for Sky Sports.

“I think the bowlers bowled well, you can’t take anything away from them. They deserve credit for the way they changed things because the first spell from the Indian bowlers wasn’t very good. They were bowling a little bit too short in my book. After lunch though, they were a lot better.”

[interaction id=”5b796197286232d9a1f41696″]