Robson and Ballance brought up their fifties in succession and also sewed a 100 run partnership.
Quite similar to what happened on the second day, India managed a breakthrough straightaway after lunch as Ishant trapped Robson on the pads and the umpire endorsed the appeal.
Ishant’s amazing spell turned the tables back on England as he scalped Gary Ballance (71) and Ian Bell (25), leaving England trailing by 283 runs.
Mohammad Shami who was Ishant’s replacement after an extended spell didn’t threaten straightaway, but produced a short ball and lured Moeen Ali into taking his eyes off the cherry. England was in all sorts of trouble, trailing by 260 with half of their side back in the pavilion.
Matt Prior and Ben Stokes became Bhuvi’s victims as the Brits was reduced to 205/7 by the end of the session. Prior’s dismissal.
Joe Root had a couple of escapes against Kumar as he twice edged the ball that didn’t carry to the slip cordon and an lbw appeal was again turned down.
The pre-tea session easily belonged to the Indians. Thanks to the pacemen!
England having lost 6 wickets for 74 runs was ravaged and wrestled to avoid the follow on. Ishant had spiritedly set up the tempo, who was further given a boost by Kumar and Shami.
Soon after tea, Broad and Root counter attacked by putting up a quick 50 run stand of just 62 balls. The demons of the Trent Bridge 2011 had revisited to haunt India. Broad looked to score briskly and downsize the deficit. Both the batsmen had taken guard after tea with a clear motive of avoiding the follow on.
Broad exploited the new ball smashing four fours off the first twelve deliveries that were bowled.
The Indians heaved a mutual sigh of relief when Kumar trapped Broad and ended the 78 run stand. Broad was unhappy with the umpire’s decision.
Root drew together his fifth half century in 18 tests, taking England’s score to 298/8. His stubborn approach had kept the Indians on their toes, poising the game evenly.
Kumar took his fourth wicket of the innings jagging Plunkett who had left a massive gap between the bat and the pad. A well constructed half ton, and a four wickets haul till now, on his first overseas match, Bhuvneshwar Kumar couldn’t have asked for more!
The last wicket pair of Anderson and Root mirrored Shami and Kumar and kept India waiting for the final wicket. Anderson looked comfortable against all bowlers in general, his only worry being the casual short ball. In his 54 run stand with Root, he had punched Kumar through covers and reverse swept Jadeja.
At stumps on Day 3, the play officially belonged to India. England trailed by 105 but the hugely spirited partnership between Root and Broad, and then Anderson, didn’t allow India to put the cherry on the top, and kept them at bay.
England did well to bounce back, but the Indian bowlers had run the show. Slamming their critics in style, Ishant, Kumar and Shami had the pitch at their disposal, and bowled the correct lines, much straighter. The pitch remained cold and passive and the trio deserved an ovation for having sliced nine wickets between them.
On the penultimate day, India would look to roll up the hosts quickly and advance towards a big lead. It’ll be interesting to see if Jimmy and Root could deny them the final wicket and go past the 400 mark.
