England vs India 2018: 3 reasons why India won the 3rd Test match

The Indian players provided a fabulous display with both the bat and the bowl in the third Test to keep the series alive and wide open for both the teams. They comprehensively beat England by 203 runs. In this match, the conditions played to India's advantage.

The Indian batsmen played quite responsibly, left the ball quite well and didn't give away their wickets by playing rash shots. The bowlers too bowled full length and made the ball swing rather than hitting the deck hard. Hardik Pandya, especially bowled extremely well to get his first 5-wicket haul in his Test career.

Butler who scored a brilliant 106 and Stokes who provided support to him with 62 runs on board put up a valiant effort and hence made the Indian team grind for their victory. Hence, India stayed alive in the series with a win at Nottingham today.

Let us look at the 3 reasons why India won the 3rd Test match.

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#3 Favourable Conditions

India predominantly batted when the sun was shining brightly in the 3rd Test at Nottingham. Hence, without the overcast conditions, the ball didn't swing as much as the English bowlers would have liked and the Indian batsmen on a relatively good pitch for batting scored 329 and 352 runs in their two innings.

On the other hand, the English batsmen mostly batted under overcast conditions and were bundled out by the strong Indian pace attack for just 161 and 317 runs in their two innings. This was the exact opposite of what happened at Lords where the Indian batsmen were out-classed by James Anderson who took 9 wickets in the match and English batsmen batted in the broad sunshine in their respective innings.

Hence, England got the taste of their own medicine in the 3rd Test.

#2 Fabulous all-round performance by Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya gave a brilliant and eye-catching performance with both the bat and the ball. He was responsible for England's collapse in the first innings with figures of 5/28 in just 6 overs. He bowled the perfect line, length and got the ball to swing beautifully by bowling a fuller length than usual. His bouncer which got rid of Bairstow was a peach of a delivery and took the batsman by surprise.

In India's second innings, Pandya made a valuable contribution of 52 runs in 52 balls which propelled India to a lead of 520 runs. He took on the English bowlers head-on and hit them all over the ground. His quick-fire 50 helped India set a target which proved to be impossible for England to chase.

Hence, Hardik Pandya was the X-factor for India in this Test match.

#1 Mature batting performance by the Indian batsmen

The Indian batsman especially Pujara, Kohli, and Rahane provided an exemplary batting performance for the crowd in Nottingham. They respected the good deliveries bowled by Anderson, Broad, and Woakes and beautifully put away the over-pitched deliveries to the boundary rope.

They left the ball outside the off-stump, were extremely patient and made the English bowlers toil quite hard for their wickets. Virat Kohli was the pick of the Indian batsmen as he scored a wonderful 97 in the first innings and provided a world-class batting display in the second innings by scoring 103 runs.

Hence, the revival of Indian batting in the 3rd Test is a crucial reason for India's success.