England crawled after tea on the first day of the third Test in Mohali to ultimately finish on 268/8 at stumps. India took three wickets in the last session, and the first two were both important ones: Ravindra Jadeja preyed on Jos Buttler’s patience and ultimately had him driving to Virat Kohli at cover, just a few overs after tea.

Buttler’s wicket slowed proceedings as Jonny Bairstow and new batsman Chris Woakes preferred to make slow if steady progress. The runs did not come but the fall of wickets had also been averted. Bairstow looked in sight of a well-deserved century but India got the breakthrough in time. With seven overs in the day left, he edged behind and saw Parthiv Patel drop another chance off him. But the next ball, Jayant Yadav trapped him right in front to ensure that India would finish the day on an emphatic high. Bairstow was dismissed for a battling 89 and Chris Woakes followed him a little while later as England finished the day on 268/8. They had just scored just 63 runs in 28 overs since tea.

That being said, Bairstow had held the English innings together till then. His 89 contained six boundaries, five of which came inside his half-century. It was testimony to the fact that he found scoring difficult later on in the innings but unlike some of his teammates, preferred to battle it out rather than throw it away. His late wicket will have deflated England a little bit more as India celebrate a good first day’s work (apart from their dreadful fielding) in Mohali.

Brief scores:

England 268/8 (Jonny Bairstow 89, Jos Buttler 43; Ravindra Jadeja 2/56, Jayant Yadav 2/49) vs India