Picture Credit: Twitter
The ongoing third Test match between India and England at Headingley was completely dominated by the home side on the opening day. Starting off Day 2 at 120/0, the English openers were looking quite comfortable at the crease. As they were running away with the game, Mohammed Shami finally produced the crucial breakthrough as he clean bowled Rory Burns.
India had finally broken the huge opening partnership and had an outside chance to pave their way back into the match. Although the conditions were overcast, the Indian pacers were not looking too effective. This is when Virat Kohli decided to introduce left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja into the attack.
Jadeja takes his first wicket of the series with a beauty
There were a few patches on the pitch which were expected to offer some assistance to Jadeja. The 32-year-old certainly exploited the conditions to his advantage as he bowled a peach of a delivery to a well-set Haseeb Hameed. With the ball pitched slightly short, the England opener tried to play a forward defense but the ball turned away very slightly at the last moment to crash into the stumps.
On-air commentator Sanjay Manjrekar was also left awe-struck with Jadeja's brilliance as he said, "Oh gone! That ball has just turned from the off stump and that's his first wicket of the series and what a time to come. Just when India was getting dispirited, Jadeja has given them the breakthrough." It was indeed a timely breakthrough for India as Hameed was dismissed after a well-played knock of 68.
Watch the video here:
England recover after dismissal of openers
After taking two quick wickets of both set batsmen, India were in with a chance of inflicting a collapse. England's scorecard read 159/2 at that time when Joe Root came in to join Dawid Malan in the middle. However, this is when the tables turned completely in England's favour. Instead of feeling the pressure, the duo started playing counter-attacking cricket putting the opposition on backfoot.
Runs started to flow more freely after India took the new ball as both the batsmen reached their half-centuries quite quickly in the second session. At the time of writing, England had taken the first-innings lead to 179 runs, with 8 wickets remaining.