Birmingham, Aug 3: Indian bowlers triggered a collapse taking five wickets in the morning session as England managed to stretch their second innings lead to 99 runs, reaching 86/6 at lunch on the third day of the opening Test at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground here on Friday.

Pacer Ishant Sharma produced a brilliant spell that saw him take three quick wickets after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin dented the hosts with two wickets within the first hours of play.

Ishant removed Jonny Bairstow (28) and Ben Stokes (6) just at the stroke of lunch even as England lost the key wickets of opener Keaton Jennings (8), skipper Joe Root (14) and Dawid Malan (20) in regular intervals.

Ashwin once again turned out to be the tormentor of the England line-up, as he continued from where he left on Thursday.

Ashwin, who dismissed former skipper Alastair Cook for a duck on the second evening to leave the hosts reeling at 9/1, started off the proceedings on Friday and immediately succeeded in packing back an in-form Jennings, caught beautifully by Lokesh Rahul at second slip.

Struggling at 18/2, Root along with new man Malan played out Ashwin watchfully but the offie constantly kept asking questions before prevailing over the English captain.

Root fell while trying to pull Ashwin only to find the ball landing in the safe hands of Rahul at leg slip before Ishant joined the party in rocking the English line-up.

The lanky Delhi pacer first dismissed Malan caught by Ajinkya Rahane, before packing Bairstow and Stokes within a span of three balls.

While Bairstow fell to the safe hands of Shikhar Dhawan at second slip, one ball later Stokes was brilliantly caught by skipper Virat Kohli at third slip as England started looking down the barrel at the break.

Brief Scores: England 287, 105/7 (36.4) (Jonny Bairstow 28, Dawid Malan 20; Ishant Sharma 3/21, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/34) vs India 274.

 

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Noida (PTI): A 25-year-old man was allegedly shot dead by his neighbour following a dispute over burning of drain waste in Greater Noida's Sakipur village, police said on Wednesday.

The main accused was arrested after an encounter, they added.

The incident took place late Tuesday night when the victim, identified as Sajan Bhati, was attacked near his house. The accused allegedly opened fire on him, causing critical injuries. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Shailendra Kumar Singh said, "The accused, Mangesh (31), killed Bhati in the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday, following a dispute over the burning of drain waste in front of the victim's house. A police complaint was received at Surajpur Police Station regarding the murder."

He said police teams were formed to nab the accused, and during checking near the Moser Baer roundabout, the suspect was intercepted.

"When police tried to stop him, he opened fire. In self-defence, the police retaliated, in which the accused sustained injuries and was apprehended," the officer said.

Police recovered a country-made pistol, two live cartridges and a car from his possession, he added.

According to the police, the two accused were travelling in the car at the time of the encounter, and one of them managed to escape. Efforts are underway to arrest the absconding accused.

A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Surajpur Police Station in Gautam Buddh Nagar, and further investigation is in progress, the police said.