(Cricket news) England started day 3 on 84/5 with Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow at the crease. The pair started to open up and play aggressively from the beginning of the day. Bairstow had been really cautious on Day 2 but really opened up after settling down. Ben Stokes was dropped on 18 by Shardul Thakur off Mohammed Shami's bowling. Stokes' luck wasn't up as he was dropped once again by skipper Jasprit Bumrah off Thakur's bowling. Both were rather regulation catches and that too of Stokes who is mighty dangerous. Thankfully for India, Stokes hit the very next ball towards Bumrah once again and the Indian captain dived to his left to take a blinder. Stokes had to walk back after scoring 25 off 36.

Nothing was slowing down Bairstow's onslaught as he continued to counter attack as he reached his century in just 109 balls. The batter scored just 16 runs off his first 65 balls and then scored 84 off 54. This was his 3rd hundred in consecutive Test matches and his 5th in 2022. He was soon dismissed by Mohammed Shami who produced an edge which went to Virat Kohli at first slip. Sam Billings played a nice little cameo of 36 off 56 before being dismissed by Siraj. India cleaned up the tail fairly early as England were 284 runs behind.

Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara opened the batting with a lead of 132 runs. James Anderson struck in the very first over as he got rid of Gill who edged the ball to Zak Crawley at second slip just like the first innings. Pujara and Hanuma Vihari steadied the ship with some solid batting. The pair didn't take any risks even though the run rate was very low, they managed to stay at the wicket. Vihari got out on 11 after he chased Stuart Broad's ball and only managed to edge it to Bairstow at 3rd slip. Broad kept bowling fuller to try and tempt Vihari to drive which ultimately brought the breakthrough. 

Virat Kohli came into bat and instantly started playing his strokes including two glorious trademark cover drives. Kohli's bad luck continued as he was dismissed by an unplayable ball from Stokes. The hall bounced way more than it should have which caught Kohli by surprise. The ball took an edge and was on its way down after hitting Billings's glove but Joe Root was there to pick up the pieces. Kohli could only manage 20 off 40 as his struggles continued. Pant came into bat and started to put the bad balls away. Pujara reaches a solid half century to mark his return after a short time out of the squad. 

England went with altered tactics towards the end of the day. They got Anderson to bang it in short from around the wicket to Pujara. On the other end was Joe Root who was constantly bowling wide to Pant to try and tempt the keeper. The pair managed to keep their calm as India finished the day on 125 for 3 with a lead of 257 runs. India are in a very commanding position with two days to go. They will be hoping to bat till tea tomorrow before trying to bowl out England once again. England will be hoping that they can make inroads by cleaning up India for less 350 before trying to pull off another stellar run chase.

Also read: ECB names squad for England Men’s white ball matches against India