Pujara scored a brilliant half-century
The day started with both Stokes and Bairstow being extremely alert and cautious with spells from Shami and Bumrah. After some time, former Indian captain Virat Kohli And Jonny Bairstow There was some fiery verbal exchange and as a result, Jonny Bairstow started toning the ball to all corners of the park. On the other hand the captain, Ben Stokes, who was finding it difficult to counter the Indian fast battery, made a desperate attempt to break free and hit one straight in the air in the process. Much to India’s misfortune, Shardul Thakur made full fun of the catch and missed the opportunity which was nothing more than a regulation catch.
Coping with India’s pain, captain Stokes and Bairstow added 66 runs for the sixth wicket. What made it worse was that skipper Bumrah again dropped Stokes at mid-off with Shardul’s handling. But gritty Shardul held on to his line and length and inspired Stokes to change once again, Jasprit Bumrah Dive to his right and caught a stunner to dismiss the English captain. Jonny Bairstow went ahead and scored a brilliant century.
Captain Bumrah added Shami to the attack who did the trick for India and dismissed Bairstow when he was batting on 106. England’s batting collapsed with the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow and the remaining 3 wickets were lost for just 41 runs.
India took a solid 132-run lead but suffered a straight blow in the form of Shubman Gill, who was dismissed by Jimmy Anderson first. Pujara remained at the other end but India lost 2 more wickets in the form of Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli. Courtesy of Pujara’s half-century, India are now 125/3 at stumps and are leading by 257 runs.
England Playing XI: Alex Lees, Zak Crowley, Ollie Pope, Joe RootJonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Sam Billings, Matty Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson
India’s Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar PujaraHanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra JadejaShardul Thakur, Mohammed ShamiMohammad Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah