NEW DELHI: India seemed on course to bowl England out cheaply after removing Joe Root and Ben Stokes early on Day 3 of the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Edgbaston on Friday. But Jamie Smith and Harry Brook had other plans, hammering centuries to stage a remarkable counterattack and tilt the momentum back in England’s favour.Mohammed Siraj kickstarted the drama by striking twice in the second over of the day. First, he got Joe Root to tickle one off his pads to Rishabh Pant. On the very next delivery, he bowled a sharp, rising delivery that caught Ben Stokes off guard. The England captain fended at it, only to glove it behind to Pant for a golden duck — his first in Test cricket — leaving England reeling.
At 84/5, India looked firmly in control. But that changed quickly.Brook displayed elegance and authority, unfurling crisp drives and flicks off Siraj, while Smith countered with aggressive strokeplay — slamming the ball down the ground and later pulling and driving Akash Deep for boundaries. Brook brought up his second fifty of the series with a commanding drive off Siraj, and soon Smith began dismantling India’s short-ball strategy.Brook continued the charge, swivelling on the back foot to smash Prasidh Krishna for three fours and a six on the leg-side, before driving him once more for a boundary. That over alone leaked 23 runs.Smith, meanwhile, reached his fifty off just 43 balls and kept going hard. He punished Prasidh’s short balls with a four and a six, then took three more boundaries off Washington Sundar. Against Ravindra Jadeja, he once again went aerial, launching a four and a six to continue the onslaught.Amid this brutal assault, Krishna’s struggles in Test cricket grew more glaring. The pacer now holds the unfortunate record for the worst economy rate in Test history (minimum 500 deliveries).In the first Test, which India lost by five wickets, Krishna conceded 128 runs in the first innings while taking three wickets at an economy of 6.40. In the second innings, he gave away 92 runs for two wickets, with an economy of 6.13.His performance during Day 3 worsened the numbers further: 5-0-50-0 at an economy rate of 10.00 — the most expensive spell (five or more overs) by an Indian bowler since December 2006.Overall, Krishna has now conceded runs at over five per over in his brief Test career — a glaring concern for India’s pace department.
