India beat England by eight wickets in Mohali

Parthiv Patel hit an unbeaten 67 as India comfortably chased down 103 for victory on day four of the third Test against England.

Alastair Cook and Co. would be really disappointed with their overall effort in Mohali. Their batting let them down in both the innings, especially on the first day in the first innings.

Cook conceded that his side had been “behind the eight ball” after winning the toss and only managing 283 all out on a placid Mohali deck.

“It’s frustrating and we need to improve on that if we want to win games of cricket here”.

Credit should be given to young Haseeb Hameed for his gritty unbeaten 59 off 156 balls coming in at No 8 due to a finger injury that helped England cross the 200-run mark.

Debates about pitches overshadowed India’s 3-0 series victory over South Africa a year ago, with the Nagpur track labelled “poor” by the International Cricket Council following the home team’s victory inside three days.

The only blot in Pujara’s otherwise composed knock was when, on 35, he tickled a Stokes delivery down the legside and Jonny Bairstow could not hold onto the catch. The Saurashtra batsman misjudged the bounce and ended up offering a top edge to Root at short fine leg.

But he continued to show patience and temperament that a few others of his age show and allowed Root to bat with a little more confidence. Patel reached his half-century off only 39 balls.

It’s time for tea. India’s No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara is at the eighth position with 760 rating points.

Hameed was left stranded when James Anderson was run out for five.

Chasing 103 for a win, India chased down the target with only two wickets down in 20.2 overs.

Jadeja, who opened the proceedings for the hosts with fast bowler Umesh Yadav, struck twice before lunch to give India the upper hand. One ball later, Shami sent Adil Rashid back to the pavilion.

His fearless 179-ball battle ended in a rather soft dismissal when he pushed at a Jadeja delivery and Ajinkya Rahane took a sharp one-handed catch at slip.

WICKET! Jos Buttler stay in the middle comes to an end.

They took England past 100 before Buttler (18) holed out to long on off Jayant Yadav (2-21). Ravindra Jadeja gaveI ndia the flawless start, removing Gareth Batty for 0. On day two, you are 160-5 and your lower order steps up.

But Cook remembered that four years ago in India England came back from 1-0 down to win the four-Test series 2-1 and said that if they show greater consistency they can still save the series.