England took two late wickets as Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay hit 124 and 126 respectively to leave India 319 for four at the close on Day Three in Rajkot.
The pitch offered scant encouragement for England’s bowlers, who worked hard and bowled tightly on a hot and humid day in western India, but two wickets in the final four balls of play gave England some much-needed momentum going into a crucial Day Four.
India trailed by 474 runs as play got under way and England couldn’t have hoped for a better start, Stuart Broad striking with his first ball of the morning in his 100th Test.
It’s no secret that Gautam Gambhir has struggled against Broad’s bowling in the past and the India opener was caught with his front foot too far across his body. Broad’s full ball angled back in to the left-hander and trapped him plumb in front for 29.
That brought Cheteshwar Pujara to the middle in his home ground, the small but noisy Rajkot crowd making its presence felt. Pujara attacked from the off, using his feet well to get after the spinners, before Chris Woakes put the brakes on his free-scoring innings - albeit temporarily.
The Warwickshire paceman hit an excellent line and length from the off but it was his searching short ball that caused the most problems. Pujara struggled to play it, taking his eye off every short delivery and turning his body away from the ball. He was consequently hit on the helmet three times but made it through the testing spell unscathed.
England continued to bowl tightly after lunch and it seemed the pressure might finally pay off when Zafar Ansari planted one on Pujara’s back leg. Umpire Chris Gaffaney raised his index finger but the batsman, then on 87, signalled for the review and DRS showed the ball would have looped over the top of the stumps. Decision overturned.
Pujara went in for tea stranded on 99 but reached his ninth Test century soon after the break, dabbing a single off Woakes to secure his second ton is as many Test innings. Following his batting heroics, Ben Stokes finally made the breakthrough with the ball. No fewer than 403 balls after the first wicket, Pujara pushed at one that flew into Alastair Cook’s hands at wide first slip, departing for a classy 124.
Opener Vijay began the day on 25 and patiently worked his way to a composed century off 254 balls. In an innings defined by grit and determination, Vijay lost concentration just once before he was dismissed, driving Broad uppishly into the covers on 66. Debutant Haseeb Hameed dived low to his left and managed to get two hands on the ball but couldn’t make it stick.
Hameed wasn’t the only one with a huge smile on his face when he atoned for his earlier miss, holding on safely at short leg to dismiss Vijay for a formidable 126 off Adil Rashid just four balls before stumps.
The close of play was brought forward from the scheduled finish time when nightwatchman Amit Mishra was caught at short leg for 0, again by Hameed, off Ansari’s bowling just three balls later. Suddenly the picture looked rather rosier for England’s toiling bowlers.
India still trail England’s first innings total by 218 runs and Cook will be buoyed by the two late wickets, and the effect they’ll have on the visitors’ confidence. But with India’s skipper and talisman Virat Kohli unbeaten on 26 and due to be joined by Ajinkya Rahane in the morning, it’s impossible to predict which this first Test will go.
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