Cricket: Hardik Pandya defends decision to play two spinners

Nothing happened (after lunch). That was the problem. As a bowling unit, we tried but all of a sudden the ball stopped swinging and they – Woakes and (Jonny) Bairstow – took the game away,” Pandya reasoned after the end of third day’s play. “It happens – I’ve seen in Tests. You get four or five wickets quickly and then you get one partnership. Even with our batting line-up, it has happened many times. It’s just a part of the game,” Pandya said. The 189-run stand between Woakes (120*) and Bairstow (93) for the sixth-wicket has all but taken the game away from India’s grasp and only a miracle, or rain, can save India now.