|| India Correspondent ||

Virat Kohli’s team India bounced back in style as they defeated England by 203 runs to recover from a 2-0 deficit and keep the series alive by clinching the victory the third Test match at Nottingham on Wednesday.

The visitors were on the verge of losing the series before a unified effort helped them outclass their opponent in a dominating manner.

After the nightmarish loss at Lords, where the Indian team looked clueless and stumbled at every step of the match, the Indian team showed tremendous character and ability to dominate the hosts in the third Test match. Firstly, the openers combined well to provide a 60 runs partnership in the first innings, something that built a good base for the match.

Later on, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane coupled to take advantage of the afternoon session and maintained a good pressure over the English bowlers. Eventually, Rahane departed at 81, whilst the Indian captain missed his century by mere three runs. India scored 329 runs in the first innings, and then displayed their bowling strength by bowling out England for 161 runs.

The final session of day 2 was incredible from Indian team’s perspective, as they took all 10 English wickets in that one session itself. Hardik Pandya starred with his five-wicket haul, as the Baroda based all-rounder demonstrated an excellent spell of seam bowling.

 He hit the accurate lengths, often putting the batsmen in an area of pressure and unpredictability, thus forcing them to commit themselves to the delivery. The Indians yet again batted with intent and purpose, as Kohli completed his century this time around, and Cheteshwar Pujara steadied the ship with a good knock scoring 72 runs. Having the luxury of a lead of 168 runs, the Indian batsmen adopted a safe approach, with Kohli leading the run charts with his well-crafted century.

Hardik Pandya scored a half-century late onto the innings, and well he injected the late energy that was required to boost up the final total. India set up a target of 521 runs for England, and while the likes of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes did show solidarity and composure to steer the chase, Jasprit Bumrah’s late onslaught ensured that India won the Test match by a margin of 203 runs. Captain Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah were the best performers for the visitors, as the hosts seemingly lacked tooth in the absence of young Sam Curran.

Man of the match Kohli said that he was pleased with the manner they showed their character and announced they dedicated the win for the flood victim of Kerala, that had already claimed numbers of lives.

‘’We, as a team, want to dedicate this win to the flood victims in Kerala. This is our bit we can do as the Indian cricket team,’’ said Kohli.