Sachin Tendulkar gives Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant a big pat on the back

On day 2 of the third Test at Trent Bridge, the Indian team was bowled out pretty early in the morning session. Thus they had time to make the most of the conditions but the pre-lunch session wasn’t their best. The bowling coach would have given them an earful in the break and boy came back in the best possible manner. Hardik Pandya’s five-wicket haul meant England were bowled out in one session for 161 runs and Sachin Tendulkar was pumped up to witness that.

It was Ishant Sharma who produced an outside edge off Alastair Cook’s bat when they were 46/0 and the man to grab it was Rishabh Pant behind the stumps. With that, Pant opened his Test account as wicketkeeper, he went on to claim four more catches in the innings. Jasprit Bumrah also broke through from the other end once again it was the keeper’s catch and Ishant then managed to get Ollie Pope to edge one sliding down the leg-side, the 20-year-old wicketkeeper had to dive to his left but did really well to hold onto that one.

Pandya was in business now, with the first ball he booked the return for English skipper Joe Root, Mohammed Shami then removed Ben Stokes – both of them were caught by KL Rahul at second slip. The all-rounder struck twice in two balls to dismiss Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes. Pant moving to his left had to jump up and time it perfectly to grab onto Woakes’ nick and he did.

Pandya then returned to induce Adil Rashid into a forward prod and Pant accepted it gleefully and with that, the bowler got his maiden five-wicket haul and the keeper completed a fifer of dismissals in his debut Test innings.

Sachin’s tweet

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar couldn’t hide his excitement and it was visible in his post. He also urged the team to now close the game soon enough.

“Fantastic cricket, both in front and behind the wickets. Congratulations @hardikpandya7 and @RishabPant777 on your respective 5 wicket hauls! Let’s nip this in the bud now,” Tendulkar tweeted.

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