India take handy lead on third morning

He and Kohli more than doubled India’s total in their earlier stand of 75, which was hard work at times as England tried to dry up the runs. It gathered plenty of eyeballs when he did the same during his first Test fifty celebrations at Lord’s in 2014.

Winning the toss and batting on the opening day is considered as a big advantage in Indian conditions but Kohli and Co overcame that to win the game by eight wickets. There were a few balls they kept out that kept low and they did a few things with the ball as well.

Ashwin enhanced his batting reputation with a defiant 72, Jadeja threatened a maiden Test ton before falling 10 runs short and Jayant hit a first Test fifty to give India a 134-run first innings lead which effectively took the match away from England. Both (Jadeja and Ashwin) of them can bat.

The diminutive 31-year-old, replacing injured regular wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, smacked six boundaries in his 42 before Adil Rashid dismissed him leg-before.

In between, Jonny Bairstow [15] edged Jayant Yadav behind to leave Joe Root unbeaten on 36, after he opened ahead of injury victim Haseeb Hameed who continues to nurse a hand problem suffered in the first innings.

But on this occasion at least he stifled his reaction after dismissing Virat Kohli, whose Parthian shot had provoked Stokes – after his first innings dismissal to an ingenuous stumping – into swearing back.

England’s bowling lacked much potency for most of the day and Alastair Cook was content to set defensive fields.

Jayant once again impressed with his fighting qualities as his gutsy innings ensured that India scored 400 plus for the third consecutive time in the series.

“We’ve got to take it on the chin”. Ravindra Jadeja’s Man-of-the-Match showing in Mohali (90 and four wickets) has moved him up two spots to a career-best fourth in the allrounders’ list.

He went up the pitch to Ashwin and only half-bailed out when he was not in the right position, succeeding only in chipping a catch to deep mid-on.

Root was the top scorer in England’s second innings with 78 runs off 179 balls which included six hits to the fence.

“If the lower-order contributes well, then it’s a plus point for every team and it’s a good sign for us that all have contributed well till now”, Jadeja told reporters after the day’s action. Really enjoyed batting with Jaad.

Jayant added 53 runs for the eighth wicket with Jadeja as the morning session certainly belonged to the home team.

“I think we got in a bit of a bother on the second day but the belief inside the dressing room was tremendous”, said Ashwin. “I knew once I settle, I can accelerate after 50-60-70 balls”, Jadeja added.