NOTTINGHAM: Hardik Pandya took five wickets and debutant wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant claimed five catches before India’s batsmen piled on the agony for England in the third Test at Trent Bridge.
India were 124 for two in their second innings at stumps on Sunday’s second day, an already commanding lead of 292 runs in a game where victory would see them keep the series alive at 2-1 down in a five-match contest.
Cheteshwar Pujara was 33 not out and India captain Virat Kohli, whose 97 was key to his side’s first-innings 329, eight not out with three days left in the game.
Earlier, England collapsed to 161 all out in a first innings that lasted a mere 38.2 overs.
All-rounder Pandya took five wickets for 28 runs in six overs, including four for eight in 11 balls, as he revelled in the swing-friendly conditions.
This was the second time this year that England had lost all 10 wickets inside a session of Test cricket following an embarrassing 58 all out against New Zealand in Auckland in March.
The irony was that England enjoyed a solid opening partnership to be 54 without loss.
But the exit of left-handers Alastair Cook (29) and Keaton Jennings (20) on that total sparked a collapse that saw eight wickets lost for 74 runs.
Only Jos Buttler’s 39 kept India at bay and denied Kohli the chance of enforcing the follow-on.
Admittedly, the overcast conditions made batting difficult, but England’s top-order problems run deeper than bad luck with the weather.
When Cook edged Ishant Sharma to give Pant an easy first Test catch it meant England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer had made 252 runs in the format at a meagre average of 19.38 this year.
Next ball, Jennings, one of 12 batsmen to have opened in Tests with Cook since Andrew Strauss retired six years ago, was squared up by the recalled Jasprit Bumrah and nicked to Pant.
New batsman Ollie Pope fell for 10 when a genuine glance off Sharma was well caught down the legside by the 20-year-old keeper.
England captain Joe Root only managed 16 before he edged all-rounder Pandya’s first ball low to KL Rahul at second slip.
The umpires called for a review but made a ‘soft signal’ of out and the on-field call was upheld.
Ben Stokes, recalled just days after being acquitted of an affray charge on Tuesday following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September last year, walked out to a few boos from the crowd.
He could only manage 10 before an edge off paceman Mohammed Shami flew waist-high to Rahul.
Chris Woakes had bailed out the top-order with a maiden Test century in England’s innings and 159-run win at Lord’s last week.
But trying to hook Pandya on eight, he got a top edge and Pant, going down the legside, changed direction and lept back to his right before holding a brilliant one-handed catch.
England were now 118 for seven.
The first ball of Pandya’s next over saw Adil Rashid well caught by Pant, two-handed this time.
Stuart Broad survived the hat-trick ball but was still out for a duck, the left-hander plumb lbw to a Pandya inswinger.
At 128 for nine, England still needed two more runs to avoid the follow-on.
They got them when Buttler’s leading edge off Shami just cleared Ajinkya Rahane at cover-point.
Buttler, with just last man James Anderson for company, hooked and drove sixes off Shami and Sharma respectively before he holed out off Bumrah.
India’s openers put on a brisk 60 before Rahul (36) deflected a drive off Stokes onto his stumps and Shikhar Dhawan (44) was stumped by Bairstow off leg-spinner Rashid.
But when play ended in bright sunshine, England needed to surpass the record fourth innings score to win a Test at Trent Bridge, their own 284 for six against New Zealand in 2004, to achieve an improbable success.
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Hardik Pandya sparks England collapse as India take control of third Test
Hardik Pandya sparks England collapse as India take control of third Test
Home hero Piastri edges Antonelli in second Australian GP practice
- McLaren’s Oscar Piastri powered to the fastest time ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday
MELBOURNE: McLaren’s Oscar Piastri powered to the fastest time ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday as drivers grappled with sweeping new engine changes.
The Australian sent 125,000 fans at his home track into a frenzy by blasting round Albert Park in one minute 19.729secs, 0.214 clear of Antonelli.
Antonelli’s teammate, pre-season favorite George Russell, came third, a fraction clear of Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“A lot of learnings but overall a reasonably good day,” said Piastri, who won seven times last year but could only finish the championship in third.
“FP2 ran smoothly and we were able to find a bit more consistency and the car behaved more as we expected, which was good.”
After a dismal debut season with Ferrari last year, an upbeat Hamilton was encouraged by what had been achieved so far by the Scuderia.
“It was challenging at times on track, but we maximized our laps and executed to the best of our ability, getting some good information,” he said.
“Lots of work to do but I’m looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc, in the other Ferrari, was fifth with four-time world champion Max Verstappen sixth after spending half the session in the garage having stalled his Red Bull.
McLaren world champion Lando Norris clawed his way to seventh, more than one second off the pace, after managing only seven laps in first practice due to gearbox issues.
“We’ve got some good bits of data to go over from the second half of FP2 and there’s plenty we can learn from what our competitors have been doing,” said Norris, while admitting to “a tricky first day.”
Racing Bulls’ impressive rookie Arvid Lindblad banked an eye-opening eighth, a place ahead of Isack Hadjar — the man he replaced and who is now Verstappen’s teammate.
F1 begins new era
It was the first proper test of far-reaching new engine and chassis rules with the hybrid power units now 50 percent traditional combustion and 50 percent electric.
With a finite amount of energy available, drivers had to carefully manage their batteries on each lap, working out when to deploy while building it up back through braking.
The challenge of Albert Park is its long sweeping straights, which deplete batteries, and relatively few twisty turns to brake and charge it up again.
There have also been changes to the aerodynamics of the cars, which are lighter and smaller.
On a perfect Melbourne afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg led them out, but it was Hamilton who set the opening time.
Verstappen had an inauspicious start, stalling in the pit lane, while Russell clipped Lindblad on his way out and needed a new nose.
Verstappen’s car was wheeled back into the garage, apparently stuck in gear, where he stayed for almost half an hour.
The drivers started on a mix of medium and hard tires and Russell soon upstaged Hamilton as they jockeyed for places.
At the halfway mark it was Italy’s Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton and Piastri.
Russell locked up and hit the gravel at Turn 3 as he pushed hard, as did Hamilton, but they both kept enough momentum to get back on track.
Piastri blasted to the top of the timesheets on soft tires with 25 minutes left as Verstappen began climbing the leaderboard.
But the Dutchman was trying too hard and careered into the gravel at Turn 10 with debris flying off his car, ending his day early.
Fernando Alonso clocked 18 laps and Lance Stroll 13 as the troubled Aston Martins battle extreme vibration caused by the new Honda power unit.
Newcomers Cadillac — the 11th team on the grid — also struggled with Valtteri Bottas 19th and Sergio Perez last.
In first practice, Leclerc outpaced Hamilton with Verstappen and Hadjar third and fourth.
The Australian sent 125,000 fans at his home track into a frenzy by blasting round Albert Park in one minute 19.729secs, 0.214 clear of Antonelli.
Antonelli’s teammate, pre-season favorite George Russell, came third, a fraction clear of Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“A lot of learnings but overall a reasonably good day,” said Piastri, who won seven times last year but could only finish the championship in third.
“FP2 ran smoothly and we were able to find a bit more consistency and the car behaved more as we expected, which was good.”
After a dismal debut season with Ferrari last year, an upbeat Hamilton was encouraged by what had been achieved so far by the Scuderia.
“It was challenging at times on track, but we maximized our laps and executed to the best of our ability, getting some good information,” he said.
“Lots of work to do but I’m looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc, in the other Ferrari, was fifth with four-time world champion Max Verstappen sixth after spending half the session in the garage having stalled his Red Bull.
McLaren world champion Lando Norris clawed his way to seventh, more than one second off the pace, after managing only seven laps in first practice due to gearbox issues.
“We’ve got some good bits of data to go over from the second half of FP2 and there’s plenty we can learn from what our competitors have been doing,” said Norris, while admitting to “a tricky first day.”
Racing Bulls’ impressive rookie Arvid Lindblad banked an eye-opening eighth, a place ahead of Isack Hadjar — the man he replaced and who is now Verstappen’s teammate.
F1 begins new era
It was the first proper test of far-reaching new engine and chassis rules with the hybrid power units now 50 percent traditional combustion and 50 percent electric.
With a finite amount of energy available, drivers had to carefully manage their batteries on each lap, working out when to deploy while building it up back through braking.
The challenge of Albert Park is its long sweeping straights, which deplete batteries, and relatively few twisty turns to brake and charge it up again.
There have also been changes to the aerodynamics of the cars, which are lighter and smaller.
On a perfect Melbourne afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg led them out, but it was Hamilton who set the opening time.
Verstappen had an inauspicious start, stalling in the pit lane, while Russell clipped Lindblad on his way out and needed a new nose.
Verstappen’s car was wheeled back into the garage, apparently stuck in gear, where he stayed for almost half an hour.
The drivers started on a mix of medium and hard tires and Russell soon upstaged Hamilton as they jockeyed for places.
At the halfway mark it was Italy’s Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton and Piastri.
Russell locked up and hit the gravel at Turn 3 as he pushed hard, as did Hamilton, but they both kept enough momentum to get back on track.
Piastri blasted to the top of the timesheets on soft tires with 25 minutes left as Verstappen began climbing the leaderboard.
But the Dutchman was trying too hard and careered into the gravel at Turn 10 with debris flying off his car, ending his day early.
Fernando Alonso clocked 18 laps and Lance Stroll 13 as the troubled Aston Martins battle extreme vibration caused by the new Honda power unit.
Newcomers Cadillac — the 11th team on the grid — also struggled with Valtteri Bottas 19th and Sergio Perez last.
In first practice, Leclerc outpaced Hamilton with Verstappen and Hadjar third and fourth.
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