Rajkot: At 319/4 by the end of third day’s play chances were less that England will bowl out India under their total and get a first innings lead, especially with captain and vice captain on crease. Yet England are 163 runs ahead of India and if there is one side that can win it from here, that has to be England. India have to play for a draw.
Ajinkya Rahane-Virat Kohli had added only 30 runs in eight odd overs when Rahane was bowled by Ansari. 16 balls later Kohli created another record, a record which brought disappointment. He became only the second Indian to be out hit wicket in both test and one day and the 20th Indian in Tests to be dismissed hit wicket.
Kohli looked in fine touch and struck some crisp boundaries in his innings of 40 of 135 balls before the right-hander's back leg hit the stumps and dislodged a bail while trying to pull a delivery from leg spinner Adil Rashid. This was a massive moment in the game especially because this exposed the Indian lower middle order and tail-enders. And hadn’t it been for Ashwin, it would have been a massive lead for England. The Indian all-rounder was involved in some crucial partnerships which brought down the England lead to 49 runs only. Ashwin added 64 along with Saha for the seventh wicket, 24 along with Jadeja for the eighth wicket, 10 along with Umesh Yadav for the ninth wicket and 29 along with Mohammed Shami for the 10th wicket before finally getting out on 70, which included 7 boundaries.
Ashwin’s contribution with the bat is a huge positive for this Indian side, yet India could only manage a total of 488 runs, and thus this was India’s first 1st innings deficit after 2012, something which England team must be credited for.
But that wasn’t the end, another 37 overs were bowled in the day, a period where an experienced test specialist and a debutant gave nothing away to their opponent. Alastair Cook and Hameed put together 114 runs unbeaten partnership and made it worse for India. The debutant Hameed also reached his maiden half century in Test Match Cricket and is still in the race to convert that into a three figure mark, with him batting on 62.
How long will England bat tomorrow? Will England bowlers get enough time to bowl out India on Day 5 or will India survive and stop England from winning the test and get a series lead? The result day will answer all our curiosities.