India began Day 3 at Headingley with the hope of tightening their grip on the first Test. But Harry Brook’s aggressive 99, combined with key lower-order contributions from Jamie Smith (40), Chris Woakes (38), and Brydon Carse (22), ensured England erased most of India’s first-innings advantage. Despite Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul and Prasidh Krishna’s important breakthroughs, India’s bowling lacked control and consistency, allowing England to post 465 — just six short of India’s 471.
In the second session, England accelerated. Brook and Smith came out with positive intent, taking on the short-ball tactics. Smith dispatched Prasidh Krishna for a four and a six, while Brook played an audacious scoop off Jadeja for another boundary. India burned a review on Smith after a missed pull, convinced by Jaiswal that there was an edge, but replays proved otherwise.
The short-ball strategy finally worked when Smith mistimed one to deep square leg, where Jadeja and Sai Sudharsan combined to complete the catch. India took the second new ball immediately, and while Bumrah challenged the batters with pace and movement, Brook counter-attacked Siraj, smashing him for boundaries straight and over cover.
Brook looked set for a century, bringing up his 90s with a six off Siraj and following it with a boundary. However, a short ball from Prasidh tempted him into a pull, which he top-edged and was caught on 99. Woakes and Carse continued to frustrate India, adding a quickfire 50-run stand in just 36 balls. Woakes struck several boundaries off Prasidh and Siraj, including a six and a deft shot past third man.
Siraj finally got a breakthrough when he bowled Carse with a yorker, but not before valuable runs had been added. Bumrah returned just before Tea and nearly got Tongue with a searing yorker, but the ball missed the stumps and even a nick went for four. Still, he bowled Woakes with a nip-backer and then dismissed Tongue to complete his 14th Test five-wicket haul.
Earlier in the day, India had a brief period of control. Prasidh removed centurion Ollie Pope after being taken for a few boundaries by Brook, and Siraj dismissed Ben Stokes who edged to the keeper. But lapses in the field again hurt India. Rishabh Pant dropped Brook, and Sudharsan missed a sharp chance at short leg offered by Smith. Brook brought up his half-century before Lunch, and his partnerships with Stokes and Smith laid the foundation for England’s strong reply.
England scored 118 runs in 28 overs in the morning session, and added another 138 in 23.4 overs after Lunch. India’s catching woes and lack of discipline with the ball allowed England’s last six wickets to add 240 runs — in stark contrast to India’s 41 for seven collapse the previous day.
At Tea, with just a six-run lead, India found themselves in a match far more evenly poised than it should have been.
Brief Scores:
India 471
England 465 (Ollie Pope 106, Harry Brook 99, Ben Duckett 62; Jasprit Bumrah 5-83, Prasidh Krishna 3-128)
India lead by 6 runs.
