Cricket News sort by India Vs England 3rd Test at Kolkata - Dec 5-9, 2012

If at all there was any sense of optimism over the Indian batting coming back to form at one of their favourite venues, Eden Gardens in Kolkata, that has been thrown out of the window following embarrassing batting collapses in both innings of the Test. It is about time now that the selectors realize that the big names in the team are not so big anymore.

If the defeat in Mumbai was embarrassing, India’ performance in Kolkata was equally poor. The loss was a clear indication of the fact that India did not learn any lessons from the loss at Wankhede Stadium.

It took less than an hour for England to wrap up an inevitable victory in the Third Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The visitors humbled India for a 7-wicket win to take a crucial series lead of 2-1. The match would have been over yesterday evening itself but for R Ashwin and the support he got from no.10 and no.11.

India is heading towards a second consecutive Test defeat at home against a professional English unit led by Skipper Alastair Cook at the Eden Gardens. A dramatic afternoon session fast forwarded the match towards a possibly innings defeat for the hosts but R Ashwin’s beautiful knock in the final session helped them to avoid that and has taken the match into the final day.

England are in the driver’s seat in the Third Test by ending the crucial third day’s play with a massive first innings lead of 193 runs. There is still some batting left for England to ensure that they will not have too many runs to chase down on a wearing pitch possibly on the final day.

England are in a dominant position in the Eden Gardens Test after finishing the Second Day’s play at 216 for 1 with just another 100 runs to knock out India’s first innings efforts. Skipper Alastair Cook remained unbeaten on 136 (from 236 balls with 19 fours and a six) to lead England’s strong reply.

Okay. This statement of mine may backfire miserably. India may manage to stage an incredible fightback and go on to clinch the series as well. Like in 2001, they may find new heroes like VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh.

You must be wondering why the question on Sachin Tendulkar again. After all, he was the top scorer on an overall disappointing day for India. His 76 of 155 balls inclusive of 13 fours was reiteration of the fact that he can still produce some substantial knocks.

England sustained its pressure on India right till the end to leave the hosts on the edge at 273 for 7 at Stumps on Day 1 of the Third Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. There is hardly any batting left for India to get to a healthy first innings total although Skipper MS Dhoni has managed to stay unbeaten.