Ravichandran Ashwin starred with the bat and ball as India have firmed their grip on the Test match on day 3 in Chennai. As many as 12 wickets fell on the day’s play and in between there was some brilliant batting on display as well. England are chasing a mammoth target of 482 to win and have already lost three wickets in the process. More about the day 3 report in detail below.
England came out all guns blazing with the ball taking five wickets in the first session. Moeen Ali and Jack Leach combined to take five Indian wickets in the first session of the day’s play. Celebrating his 28th birthday, England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes affected two stumpings and was involved in the first three dismissals of the day. The England bowlers did not bowl any wide or now ball and displayed another disciplined bowling performance. However, they still leaked 20 runs through byes and leg byes.
Ravichandran Ashwin Added 96 Run-Stand With Virat Kohli
Indian skipper Virat Kohli (62) then added a 96-run stand with Ravichandran Ashwin (106) to bring India back into the game. A 49-run stand between Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj (16) helped India score 286 runs in the second innings and stretch the lead past 450. Earlier in the game, Ravichandran Ashwin picked up five for 43 with the ball to limit England to 134 in their first innings. In the process, Ashwin went past a few records. He got to 200 left-handed dismissals and Harbhajan’s tally of 266 wickets at home.
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The pitch which was fresh in the first session looked a lot better when Kohli & Ashwin was getting the partnership going. This is the third time the Indian off-spinner scored a century and picked up a fifer in the Test match. He has a total of six wickets as of now including the two innings.
After bowling out India for 286, England walked out to bat with a mountain to climb. With just over 45 minutes to bat in the final session of ay 3, England lost three wickets including both their openers.
Axar Patel took two wickets including that of Dominic Sibley and Jack Leach. Ravichandran Ashwin took the wicket of Jack Leach having bowled eight overs in the days play. England batted a total of 19 overs in their second session having scored 36 runs in the last 10 overs to end at 53/3 at stumps. The visitors need another 429 runs to win, while India just seven more wickts with two more days of cricket left.
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England 134 and 53 for 3 (Lawrence 19*, Root 2*) need 429 more runs to beat India 329 and 286 (Ashwin 106, Kohli 62, Moeen 4-98, Leach 4-100)