It was heartbreak for England batter Harry Brook as he missed out on his century by just one run during the third day of the Headingley Test against India. Prasidh Krishna got the huge wicket of the England batter, taking his tally to three scalps for the inning and restricting the hosts to 398/7. What made it even worse for Brook was the fact that that he was playing on his home ground in Leeds.
Brook, who was on the verge of reaching his ninth Test century and only his second on home soil, pulled Krishna's delivery straight towards Shardul Thakur, who made no mistake and took an easy catch. Though Brook batted quite well, his inning was anything but smooth. There were a total of three occasions where the 26-year-old should have lost his wicket, however ended up surviving thanks to the Men in Blue's mistakes.
Brook was provided with three big lifelines by India
Firstly, when Brook hadn't even gotten off the mark, a bouncer from Jasprit Bumrah caught him off-guard and he pulled it straight to the fielder, only for the umpire to signal it as a no-ball. This wasn't all as the England batter then got dropped on 46 and 82 by Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal respectively.
Following the conclusion of the third day, Bumrah gave his verdict on Brook's dismissal and stated that fate had a role to play in his wicket, further pointing out how the batter was dropped multiple times in the field.
"I think fate had decided on 99 for him, because he got dropped a few times after (the no-ball) as well," Bumrah told reporters.
"But that is not to take away from him. He assessed the conditions well, he fancies his game and plays an aggressive style of cricket. He makes you think he can play an aggressive shot but he can shut up shop as well. Full credit, he played really well and we'll try to have better plans in the next innings," he added.
Regardless of his heartbreaking dismissal, Brook's knock massively helped the Three Lions in posting the first-inning total of 465 and leaving India with only a six-run lead. The 26-year-old's inning included 11 fours and two sixes and proved to be quite entertaining for the Leeds crowd.