India vs England | Ashwin leads India towards first-innings lead in third Test

Brief scores : England 283 ( Bairstow 88, Buttler 43, Shami 3/63, Jayant Yadav 2/49) vs India 271/6 ( Kohli 62, Ashwin 57, Rashid 3/81, Stokes 2/48)

Playing a Test match after eight years, one would have expected Parthiv Patel to be a little nervous, when he walked out to open the innings with Murali Vijay. Instead, the Gujarat-wicketkeeper showed remarkable composure and was more fluent than his partner. Vijay started well by hitting two boundaries- one off Chris Woakes and one off James Anderson.  But the joy didn’t last for long as he nicked an away-going delivery of Ben Stokes to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow after scoring only 12 runs.

After getting a life-line, the Gujarat skipper looked more assured. With pleasant cover-drives, Patel proved that his selection in the national team was no fluke. With a confident Pujara at the other end, India went to the lunch with 60/1.

Parthiv dismissed, but Kohli-Pujara keep the team in good stead

Although England kept piling on the pressure by extracting some reverse swing, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara kept the English bowlers at bay with their sturdy defense and immaculate judgment of the stumps. The duo forged another 50-plus partnership, to move the match in favor of the hosts.

With an unbroken partnership of 75 runs, India went to the Tea, with 148/2.

The third session of the day nullified all the good work done by the team since then as Cheteshwar Pujara, who slammed 13th half-century of the year, got out almost immediately. Trying to hit Adil Rashid for a six over mid-wicket, Pujara mistimed the shot and Chris Woakes took a brilliant catch.

Adil Rashid, who has been on a rampant form this season, had the valuable wicket of Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane. Rashid’s googly beat the inside edge of the bat and hit Rahane dead on the front pad. Rahane went for a review, but it was in vain.

While at one end, the wickets were tumbling, Virat Kohli dabbed an out-swinger from Stokes to the third man to complete his customary fifty. Ravichandran Ashwin also joined Virat and tried to take the scorecard to a good position, but Ben Stokes managed to have Kohli caught behind by Jonny Bairstow to bring an end to a calm innings.

After the dismissal of Virat Kohli, Ashwin remained on to keep the scoreboard ticking with absolute ease. Partnering Ravindra Jadeja in the middle, the No.1 all-rounder of the world, led a late surge as the duo slammed boundaries to take India to within striking distance of England’s score of 283 at 271 runs for the loss of six wickets.