India vs England, Day 3: Cheteshwar Pujara Scores 50; Lead by 257 Runs At Stumps

Catch all the latest updates from Day 3 between India and England at Edgbaston.

Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara during their partnership in Edgbaston.

Image: PTI

Jonny Bairstow played a belligerent knock and scored a brilliant hundred for England on Day 3 in Edgbaston, but that apart India were pretty much on top of the contest through the day. India bowled out England for 284 and then Cheteshwar Pujara dug in, scoring a half-century, as the visitors’ lead stretched to 257 runs at Stumps on the third day.

Earlier, India had scored 416 in the first innings, with the help of centuries from Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. With the ball, Mohammed Siraj picked 4 wickets, Bumrah picked 3, Shami had 2 and Shardul Thakur got 1.

Day 3 

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami started off Day 3 with a bit of bite in the bowling, keeping Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow well and truly on the back foot in the first half-hour. India looked to be on top before Bairstow decided to take charge.

While Stokes wasn’t getting his timing going the way he would have liked, Bairstow was going hammer and tongs against the pacers, and cutting down the lead at good clip.

Stokes was lucky as he was dropped by Shardul Thakur when on 18 but could not make that count. At the other end, Bairstow smashed 7 boundaries on his way to a half-century, before upping the ante after that as well.

Shardul though would redeem himself, as would Bumrah soon. The Indian captain dropped Stokes when on 25 but pulled off a blinder off the next ball as Shardul struck. Bairstow was now marching on towards a century with Sam Billings for company. However, rain forced an early lunch, by about 10 minutes, and Bairstow was on 91 off 113 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes to his name.

After the rain forced the Lunch break to be longer than usual, Bairstow came back out and quickly completed his century, not slowing down despite the break in play. Billings at the other end was happy to hold out and watch the fun.

Bairstow though was dismissed soon after he got his hundred, when Shami had him caught by Kohli for 106, having hit 14 boundaries and 2 sixes. Billings and Bairstow put on a 92-run stand.

The over after Bairstow' wicket fell, India struck again, removing Stuart Broad for 1 as he was caught behind off Siraj. A little later, Siraj was at it again, picking his third wicket so far as Billings played on for 36, with England 149 runs behind.

Matthew Potts was the last man dismissed for 19 as Siraj had him caught in the slips by Shreyas, bowling out England for 284. India will begin the second innings with a 132-run lead.

Shubman Gill started of the Indian second innings with a fluent drive for a boundary, and off the very next delivery, the third of the first over, Anderson got his edge, again, with Zak Crawley taking an easy catch in the slips. Gill walked back for 4 and Hanuma Vihari joined Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle.

As expected, the duo dropped anchor, adding 31 runs to the cause to take India to Tea with a lead of 167 runs. Pujara was leaving them well while Vihari was solid too.

After Tea, Pujara and Vihari continued in the same vein, looking to bat time. However, they could not hang in there for too long as Vihari edged on from Broad straight to Bairstow at third slip for 11.

Virat Kohli walked in after that and got off the mark with a cracking cover drive of Broad. Kohli and Pujara looked solid, with the former captain playing some cracking drives. They could however put on a stand of 32 runs only, playing for about an hour in the final session, before Ben Stokes had Kohli caught in the slips with an assist from the wicket-keeper's gloves for 20. Both batters seemed well set and eyeing the big knocks before Stokes got something out of nothing.

Pujara was then joined by Rishabh Pant and they had a little over an hour to play out. Pant kept things moving at his end, not taking too many risks or trying anything expansive yet, while Pujara too was accumulating the runs, now that he was well and truly settled in.

In the final over of the day, Pujara (50*) brought up his half-century, which also brought up the fifty stand between him and Pant (30*). India ended the day with a lead of 257 runs.

What's Happened So Far?

At Edgbaston, India were asked to bat first on Day 1 by Ben Stokes and England. The veteran James Anderson then got stuck into the Indian top order along with Matthew Potts. But after that, mixed with a rain delay, it was Rishabh Pant’s glorious century and a 200-plus partnership with Ravindra Jadeja that put India on top at the end of Day 1.

A rain-hit day 2 saw Jadeja complete his century and then Jasprit Bumrah smash the most expensive over in Test history of Stuart Broad. The jokes and comparisons with Yuvraj Singh too were flying on social media understandably as India posted 416.

Then captain Bumrah took over with the ball and knocked over 3 in quick time before Mohammed Siraj got Joe Root’s wicket. Mohammed Shami had Jack Leach’s number as Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes had to played out the remainder of Day 2.