Picture Credit: ECB
The Day 1 of third Test between India and England was full of action at Headingley. However, it was not something that Indian fans were hoping for after Virat Kohli had won the toss and opted to bat first. James Anderson did the early damage as he bowled an outstanding spell with the new ball, dismissing KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli quite early in the innings.
As the visitors tried to pave their way back into the match, the comeback was cut short by Ollie Robinson show in Leeds as he bowled brilliantly to send Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant back to the pavilion. India's score read 67/5 after 36 overs and it was now time for Craig Overton to justify his selection ahead of Saqib Mahmood for this contest.
Overton's over puts England on top at Headingley
The tall fast-bowler was in the middle of a good spell but was unfortunate to not get any wicket. His efforts finally reaped rewards as Rohit Sharma completely made a mess of an attempted pull-shot as the ball went straight into the hands of Ollie Robinson. Hitman's gritty 19-run knock had come to an end and it was Overton who had provided the crucial breakthrough for his side.
Overton's happiness and joy was doubled on the very next delivery as he got rid of last match's half-centurion - Mohammed Shami. And this was it! From being wicketless to finding himself on the brink of a famous hat-trick, things had turned around quite quickly for Overton. The pacer bowled a lethal full-delivery up next but Ishant Sharma somehow managed to deal with it to prevent the English fast-bowled a chance to complete his hattrick. So close yet so far!
Repeat of events in next over bowled by Sam Curran
The sequence of events was repeated in the next over and this time the protagonist was Sam Curran. The left-arm pacer, who was also wicketless at that time, certainly found himself on a hat-trick ball after dismissing Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah on consecutive deliveries. And just like Overton, he was also denied a hat-trick as Mohammed Siraj somehow got his bat to the ball.
Interestingly, Joe Root took a DRS which completed a hat-trick of reviews in the over as Jadeja and Bumrah had also taken reviews which were unsuccessful. However, brilliant spell of bowling by Overton and Curran destroyed India's tail as the visitors were bundled out on 78.