India gave England a taste of their own medicine as they took lunch on day three of the first Test at 163/1. The hosts lost just the one wicket of Gautam Gambhir (29) in the session and added 99 runs at a healthy rate, as Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara both got to their half-centuries with boundaries.
The Indian openers had done extremely well to remain unbeaten for 23 overs on day two, but they could only add one more over to their partnership on the third day’s morning. Gambhir, his new open-chested stance et al, was rapped bang in front by Stuart Broad bowling from around the wicket, as the left-hander tried to flick him off his pads. To his credit, Gambhir did not review the plumb call after consulting his partner Vijay, continuing India’s rather surprisingly efficient use of the Decision Review System so far in this match. India have wasted only one review so far, and even that was not a bad call.
The wicket brought the in-form home boy Pujara to the crease and he almost immediately showed Gambhir how to flick Broad off the pads with a delectable shot. That was after he had driven the seamer through the covers on his third delivery faced. Pujara’s intent, which had come under severe focus during the Test series against the West Indies and New Zealand, was clear from the very start, as Moeen Ali was then punished for his full toss by the Saurashtra lad stepping out and flicking him wide of mid-wicket for another boundary.
However, England had done some homework and knew that Pujara isn’t very fond of chin music. Chris Woakes, England’s quickest bowler, struck the Indian twice on the helmet and once on the shoulder cap with the short ball angling into to the right-hander. Pujara was at fault to two things: one, as Sunil Gavaskar pointed out on air is his footwork against the short delivery; and two, he took his eyes off the ball and blindly ducked on all three occasions. Vijay, at the other end, showed his partner how to evade the rising delivery by calmly swaying away while keeping his eyes on the ball.
Pujara would have let out a sigh of relief when Woakes’s spell ended, his figures being 5-2-6-0. As Alastair Cook brought Ben Stokes into the attack, you would have expected more chin music, but it wasn’t to be as the Englishman kept it full and on length, which Pujara had no trouble dispatching, getting two more boundaries in the process. Vijay, meanwhile, got to his half-century by stepping down the track and whacking left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari straight down the ground for six. It was his 15th fifty in Test cricket. In the very next over, Pujara got to his 11th Test half-century by creaming Stokes through the covers for four.
More boundaries flowed in the 15 minutes before lunch, as Vijay took a liking to Ansari and Pujara to Stokes. Both batsmen are looking quite comfortable and in their groove. Even Pujara, who, apart from the three raps on his helmet, hasn’t really played a bad shot. His Test scores so far in this home season read 62, 78, 87, 4, 41, 101 not out and, now, 62 not out. Another big century beckons, and he could not have asked for a better time and venue to score it at.
As the players went off for lunch, India’s deficit had been knocked down from 474 overnight to 375. The hosts would be reasonably pleased with their progress and performance, and it has set up an intriguing three-and-a-half days of Test cricket ahead.
Brief score:
England 537 (Ben Stokes 128, Joe Root 124, Moeen Ali 117; Ravindra Jadeja 3/86, Mohammed Shami 2/65, R Ashwin 2/167) lead India 162/1 (Cheteshwar Pujara 62*, Murali Vijay 57*) by 375 runs.
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