Pant and Pujara sparkle, but England well on top

Rishabh Pant made an entertaining 91 and Cheteshwar Pujara scored 73, but the failure of other frontline Indian batsmen put England well on top in the first Test at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
At stumps on Day 3, India were 257 for 6 in reply to England’s 578, trailing by 321 runs. Washington Sundar (33) and R Ashwin (8) were in the middle.
After England added 23 to their overnight score of 555/8, India lost both their openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill before Lunch.
Rohit was the first to go as he got out caught behind on a peach of a delivery bowled by Jofra Archer. Archer found life in a dead pitch and got the ball to move around just enough at great pace.
Gill looked in great control and played some lovely shots even as Archer went through a superb spell. He pulled and flicked with grace before he was well caught at mid-on by Anderson for 29. He scored five boundaries in the 28 balls he faced during the course of his innings which was brought to an end by Archer at India’s score of 44.
Virat Kohli, back after a paternity leave, fell in the post-lunch session caught at short-leg by Ollie Pope against Dominic Bess. He batted for 48 deliveries in which he scored 11 runs. Bess had smartly adjusted his line to outside off, forcing Kohli to push away from his body to take the inside edge.
India’s number four Rahane didn’t stay long at the crease as he was caught brilliantly by England skipper Joe Root against Bess. Rahane skipped down the track to take it on the full but chipped a catch, leaving the hosts in trouble at 73/4.
Pant, though, was not too bothered by the scoreboard. He stuck to his gameplan irrespective of the situation; he targeted left-arm spinner Jack Leach in particular, hitting him for as many as four sixes over the leg-side within the first four overs the England spinner bowled. England had fielders in the deep but Pant didn’t care.
At the other end, Pujara too didn’t let go of any scoring opportunities. He came down the track regularly to the spinners, especially Bess, flicking and driving to the boundary.
The two took India to 154/4 by tea, with both passing the half-century mark.
Their approach didn’t change after the tea break either. Pant attacked Leach at every given opportunity while Pujara too remained positive. The partnership reached 119 when Pujara fell in an unfortunate manner; he pulled a short ball from Bess but it lobbed off forward short leg’s back to mid wicket.
Soon after, Pant came down the track and mistimed Bess to the off-side fence to fall in the 90s once again.
Pant’s dismissal put India well on the backfoot. With Pant around, Washington had begun in an attacking fashion before he settled down.
Towards the end of the day, Washington gave a chance lofting Leach towards mid on, but Archer, running back, couldn’t hold on. It kept India’s chances alive, but England are well on top at the moment.