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After breaking the humongous partnership between Harry Brook and Jamie Smith, India managed to bundle out England for 407 and take a lead of 187 runs heading into their second innings. Though the visitors lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early for 22 runs, they wrapped up the day leading the hosts by a massive 244-run margin. With KL Rahul unbeaten on 28 and Karun Nair batting on 7, India are currently in a strong position and would want to increase their lead even further as Day 4 commences.
However, according to Accuweather, there are chances of heavy rainfall throughout the day in Birmingham. This could lead to the match getting stopped on a few occasions during the fourth day and can severely hamper India's chances of emerging victorious for the first time at Edgbaston.
Rain shower is expected to affect play on multiple occasions
According to the weather report, a rain shower is expected at the time of the beginning of the day's play, i.e 11 AM (3:30 PM IST). The shower is expected to return by 1 PM (5:30 PM IST). If this prediction does come true, then the match will have to be stopped quite a few times due to the weather.
Coming to the match, Mohammed Siraj picked up the big wickets of Joe Root and Ben Stokes on consecutive deliveries early during the first session of Day 3. These wickets restricted England to 84/5 and it looked like the Men in Blue may even enforce a follow-on over the hosts. However, the duo of Brook and Smith went on to form a partnership that completely changed the match's scenario.
With their 'Bazball' style of batting, the duo punished the Indian bowling attack in ruthless fashion and hit boundaries for fun. While Smith brought up his century after facing just 80 deliveries during the final few overs of the first session, Brook didn't stay far behind and moved into triple figures in the first few overs of the second session.
After forming a record-breaking stand of 303, Brook went on to lose his wicket to Akash Deep during the third session for 158 runs. The remaining England batters didn't pose much of a challenge for the Indian bowlers and the last four wickets fell in the gap of just 20 runs. Siraj finished with brilliant figures of 6/70 and Akash Deep took the remaining four wickets while giving away 88 runs. India head into the fourth day, carrying a big lead of 244 runs. It will be interesting to see if the Indian batters continue their dominance on the dry Edgbaston pitch or if the England bowling attack is finally able to make a comeback.
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