Virat Kohli climbs to career-best 3rd in Test rankings

The 50 came off 39 balls with eight boundaries and a six.

Haseeb Hameed’s half-century was in vain as India took a 2-0 series lead with an eight-wicket victory over England in the third Test.

Mumbai hosts the fourth test from December 8.

Chasing a paltry 103, India lost opener Murali Vijay (0) in the very second over but Parthiv Patel (16 not out) and Cheteshwar Pujara (13 not out) ensured there were no more hiccups till the tea break. When the target was 15 runs away, Pujara’s ended up top-edging an attempted sweep to short fine-leg.

As the third-umpire conveyed his decision to the on-field umpire, Virat Kohli stood with his index finger on the lips.

The only consolation for the visitors would be the fact that they will make India bat for the second time in the match. Prasad is in Chennai to watch the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Vidarbha.

“As I said, we are focussed on good cricket and we are a team that looks to play good cricket and win sessions”.

England leads by only 22 runs with three wickets remaining. They are not getting desperate for too many wickets. This match we have scored 200 plus, so incredible to see guys working hard on their batting, understanding that those 70-80 runs put a dent on opposition’s mindset.

They had raised prospects of a close contest by making India struggle for a draw in the first Test of the series in Rajkot.

India had resumed still marginally in arrears on 271 for six but found easy pickings against Chris Woakes, surprisingly bowling in tandem initially with Moeen rather than James Anderson, an odd deployment of a ball only five overs old.

Alastair Cook was frank in his assessment of England’s defeat to India, admitting that the tourists misread the pitch in Mohali and got their selection wrong. He did not let the bowlers intimidate him and smartly rotated the strike without missing opportunities to punish the loose deliveries.

The process was started on the second evening with Ashwin and Jadeja adding 67 to take India within 12 runs of England’s 283. Mohammed Shami’s five wickets in Mohali earned him a promotion from No 21 to No 19 in the bowlers’ list. Woakes was dismissed caught behind after India took the second new ball.

“If we’d known what we know now, we would’ve probably gone with four seamers and two spinners, because the seamers are always in the game”.

Having mustered 23 from 127 balls, Hameed now plundered 36 from 29.

Hameed then changed gears.