"The wicket changed massively from the first day" - England's Dawid Malan

Dawid Malan has stated that the Leeds pitch for the third Test between England and India has changed "massively" since Day 1, favoring the batsmen as the game progressed.

Malan, England's half-centurion on Day 2, also stated that the Indian bowlers had to toil considerably harder without much reward, following their batting collapse in the first innings. He said in a virtual press conference after the end of Day 2:

"The wicket changed massively from the first day, the first hour when they were batting... I would not say they were flat with their bowling. They absolutely ran in and tried their socks off. They asked a lot of questions and probably didn't get that much help from the wicket."

Stumps on day two! Joe Root's century has put England in the driver's seat 💪#WTC23 | #ENGvIND | https://t.co/qmnhRc14r1 pic.twitter.com/asACkegYar

— ICC (@ICC) August 26, 2021

After winning the toss, India opted to bat first, but the visitors were bowled out for just 78 runs. In reply, at the end of Day 2, England currently stand at 423 runs for the loss of eight wickets, leading India by 345 runs.

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Dawid Malan enjoyed a successful return to England's Test side

Malan scored an impressive fifty on his Test return

Dawid Malan, who is making his return to England's Test side after three years, scored 70 off 128 balls. The 33-year-old was averaging just around 27 from 26 innings before the ongoing Leeds Test.

Although Malan has fared well in T20Is for quite some time now, there have always been questions about his ability to do well in the longest format.

Upon his return to Tests, the left-hander has shown a lot of promise and potential to flourish in red-ball cricket as well. The question is, how long will it last?

Back with a 5️⃣0️⃣ @dmalan29 🙌Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/UakxjzUrcE@IGCom | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/E9pwPIUYfX

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 26, 2021