India post 417, lead by 134 runs vs England

India took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series by beating England by eight wickets in the third test on Tuesday.

Haseeb Hameed did not open the batting owing to his injured left hand.

India (Ist innings): 417 all out (Parthiv Patel 42, Cheteshwar Pujara 51, Virat Kohli 62, Ravichandran Ashwin 72, Ravindra Jadeja 90, Jayant Yadav 55, Adil Rashid 4 for 118, Ben Stokes 5 for 73). The England captain has struggled to read India’s spin attack on tour and is far from his usual assured self.

But Bairstow did praise Ashwin, terming him someone who has lot of tricks up his sleeve but also made it clear that they are not in awe of the Indian off-spinner. England were trying to take the game as deep as possible too with an eye on the fact that India would have to bat last. Root was caught by Ajinkya Rahane.

So it proved once Shami had the new ball in his hands again, breaking an eighth-wicket stand of 43 when – straight after hitting Woakes on the helmet with a bouncer which dislodged the stemguard – he went short again and induced a mis-hook which looped to the wicketkeeper. It was 19-year-old Haseeb Hameed who put up a fearless resistance (59 not out off 156 deliveries) to thwart the hosts despite a hand injury. It was a lesson for his more illustrious teammates can follow. The four bowlers to have taken Cook’s wicket most times than Ashwin are – Mitchell Johnson (9), Ishant Sharma (8), Morne Morkel (8) and Ryan Harris (8). Patel hit a boundary to overhaul the target as India finished at 104/2.

In Mohali, Jadeja came to the middle at a tricky time for the Indian side with skipper Virat Kohli dismissed and India 204/6 in reply to England’s 283.

Kohli admitted he was surprised that England cheered when they won the toss. “People are now asking as to how a side which could only win on turning tracks is also winning on good wickets”.

The dry pitch in Mohali, which many pundits predicted would start wearing down from the opening day itself, stayed firm till the end. “We don’t concentrate on what is happening outside”. “They shared experience with me that might help me”. “He is making those important breakthroughs throughout the game, even Umesh (Yadav) as well”, Kohli said of his pacers. I wanted to continue that form into this Test match.

Asked how he has been preparing to bowl at various batsmen, Rashid said: “Sometimes you get a bit of luck as well but hard work in the nets (is the key)”.

“The idea was to bowl at the stumps and it was turning and straightening and that was the plan and it came off”.

“There’s nothing worse than when you know you can play better and you’re not quite doing it”.

Experienced off-spinner Gareth Batty endured a forgettable game, going wicketless and never really troubling the India batsmen.