London [UK], July 13 (ANI): Former England pacer Stuart Broad hailed an intense and galvanised Indian unit for their bowling in the first session of day four of the third Test at Lord and gave his take on what an ideal target could be for the Three Lions.
Team India started from where they left off during the final over of day three, replicating the intensity and aggression to rattle England and leave them four wickets down at Lunch. Body blows, verbal jabs, ball beating the bat, aggressive send offs and some classy shots. It had it all.
Speaking after the end of the session on air as quoted by Sky Sports, Broad said about the eventful first session, It was exhausting, was not it?! Brilliant to watch.
I thought India started beautifully with the ball, great intensity, which we always thought was going to happen after last night over. That galvanised India with the energy and togetherness, but England have fought hard, fought back at times, he added.
Broad said that with the type of bounce available on the pitch, if he were still an English bowler, then, I am thinking get me 220 and I am in the game.
England ended the session at 98/4, with skipper Ben Stokes (2*) and Joe Root (17*) and the team leading by 98 runs.
England started Day 4 on 2/0 with Zak Crawley (2) and Ben Duckett (0*) unbeaten on the crease. Mohammed Siraj gave the host an early blow as he removed Duckett for 12 in the 6th over, and Ollie Pope joined Crawley in the middle.
Just before drinks in the first session, Siraj grabbed his second wicket of the innings by removing Pope for just four. At drinks, England were 42/2 with Zak Crawley 17 (43) unbeaten on the crease.
Joe Root joined Crawley in the middle, and England crossed the 50-run mark in the 15th over after Root pushed the ball towards deep point for a single. Nitish Kumar Reddy removed Crawley for 22 runs off 49 balls, including four fours.
Crawley drought for runs in the series continues. Harry Brook came to the crease after Crawley wicket.
Brook took on Indian bowlers as he hurried on to 23 off just 17 balls. Akash Deep took his first wicket of the match as he cleaned up Brook for 23, and England skipper Ben Stokes joined Root in the middle.
Earlier in the match, Opener KL Rahul ton and left-hand batter Ravindra Jadeja 72 helped India to level the score at 387 on Saturday at Lord, which was also set up by England in the first innings of the Test match.
England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat first. Batting first, the Three Lions scored 387 runs thanks to a century stand between Root (104) and Ollie Pope (44) and a counter-attacking 82-run stand between Brydon Carse and Jamie Smith, who both struck fifties down the order.
Brief Scores: England: 387 & 2/0 (Ben Duckett 0*, Zak Crawly 2*; Jasprit Bumrah 0/2) vs India: 387 (KL Rahul 100, Rishabh Pant 74; Chris Woakes 3/84). England 98/4 ( Harry Brook 23, Zak Crawley 22; Mohammed Siraj 2/11). (ANI)
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