India vs England highlights, 2nd Test, Day 3: England 53/3 at stumps, still 429 runs behind the target

Ashwin has slop swept Moeen Ali for a six. He is now just three runs away from his hundred.

Ashwin has scored another boundary. He cuts Leach for a four.

Siraj had to face a whole over from Jack Leach. But he managed to hold on to his wicket.

Ashwin hit Moeen for a boundary with a good sweep shot.

Ashwin has reached 81 after hitting a four off the first ball of Leach’s over.

Ishant Sharma gets a top edge, and he has been caught by Olly Stone. India 237/9

FOUR! Ishant steps up to Moeen Ali’s half-tracker and hits it over the covers for a boundary.

Ashwin hits Stuart Broad for a boundary to move closer to the 80s. He is taking most of the strike here and can get a hundred.

Ashwin and Ishant are back in the middle. Final session – what will happen? Plenty of drama in store.

India have reached the score of 221/8 at tea. India lead England by 416 runs. Ashwin and Ishant are on the crease.

Ashwin has reached his highest score in Chennai. He is batting on 68

Ashwin hit an uppish straight drive for a boundary off Broad.

England need just need two wickets to dismiss India. But the lead is already 411. Let’s see how much India can score before being bowled out.

Moeen Ali gets his fourth wicket of the innings. He dismisses Kuldeep as India lose eighth wicket

Ashwin played it fine off Broad. He cut and it went straight to the boundary. India’s lead has reached 401 runs.

DRS showed the ball was hitting the bails. Kohli departs after scoring 62. India 202/7

Kohli tried to glance it to fine leg but did not get bat to it. Moeen appealed and the umpire gave it out. But Kohli has reviewed it

India have reached the score of 200. It looked difficult when they were 106/6 but Ashwin and Kohli have managed to steady the ship for India.

The way to handle affairs on this pitch is to be patient. Both Ashwin and Kohli have shown the way in India’s second innings.

Ashwin hit a tennis type smash off the bowling off Stone. He made room and hit a bouncer to long on. He brings up his 12th Test fifty with a boundary on the next ball.

Jack Leach bowled a beauty to Ashwin, which bamboozled the batsmen. But on the very next ball, he bowled a poor delivery which was hit for a boundary.

Joe Root has brought back Olly Stone into the attack as they look to break this partnership.

Ashwin is also near the 50-run mark. He is batting on 40.

Virat Kohli has hit a fifty in the second innings. It has taken him 107 balls to reach the milestone.

Kohli is now just two runs away from his fifty. He swept Moeen for a four.

Kohli is into his forties as he has managed to hold onto his wicket on a spinning track in Chennai. He hit a cover drive off Moeen to reach 44.

The batsmen are out on the pitch and Moeen Ali will bowl the first over.

“First of all, let me make this one point. England are not behind because of the pitch. They are behind because of Rohit Sharma’s brilliant batting in the first innings and because they did not bowl very well on a surface where the ball was going through the top from Day 1. To be frank with you, the game is probably beyond England as it is at the moment,” Butcher said on Star Sports.

The last hour of play got India to a dominant position. Ashwin and Kohli have stitched together an important partnership of over 50. Ashwin has 34 runs in 38 balls. Players are heading out for lunch. India 156/6

England have taken a review for caught behind. Umpire had given not out. There was a big gap between bat and ball. What a waste.

Ashwin edged off off Broad. It flew to Stokes but he could not hold onto it. Missed chance for England. India 338 runs ahead.

India are now 333 runs ahead. Ashwin has come in and scored runs while Kohli has carried on his innings on a difficult pitch

R Ashwin has come to the crease and looked positive from the word go. He effectively used the sweep shot and got some runs for India.

Leach bowled short outside off and Kohli latched onto to it to smash it for a four.

India have lost their sixth wicket as Moeen Ali traps Axar Patel. India have taken the review but it went to umpire’s call. And the umpire had given out. India 106/6

Axar Patel has hit one to the boundary ropes. He was deep in the crease and hit a wonderful on drive off Moeen Ali.

India’s lead has been extended to 292 runs. Scoring runs on this pitch is really difficult and it already looks like a great total.

All hopes are pinned on Kohli now. He is the only recognised batsman left for India. He just played a beautiful straight drive off Leach.

Another wicket down for India. Ajinkya Rahane heads back to the pavillion after giving a catch to short leg.

Two boundaries came off Moeen’s over. It was a productive one for India as every run counts now.

Rishabh Pant has been stumped out – magnificent work by Foakes. Leach gets the prized wicket. Pant departs for 8. IND 65/4

Not the intended shot, but it gone off the glove for Pant’s first boundary. Pant will play his shots, and he will not stop. England need to be cautious here.

Will Rishabh Pant target Jack Leach again? He has been good against the bowler so far in the match.

Sharma Stumped!!

3rd time he has been stumped in Tests, all have come vs left arm spinner

176 & 127 vs SA at Visakhapatnam ( K Maharaj), 2019

26 vs ENG at Chennai ( J Leach) ,2021

As a pair Kohli and Rohit in this match.

1 (6) -1st innings

0 (13) -2nd innings

The intentions are clear from India – Rishabh Pant has been promoted over Ajinkya Rahane. India looking to counter-attack, get runs on the board and declare as soon as possible.

Huge appeal from Ben Foakes for stumping from behind the stumps. The replays showed he was just a tad bit outside. India are three wickets down for 55, lead by 250.

A mistake from Pujara – and he has been run out. Pujara tried to get back to his crease, but he dropped his bat, and Foakes was quick to take off the stumps. Bizarre!

Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara out to bat on Day 3. India lead by 249 runs. HERE WE GO!

Mark Butcher says that England are not in a bad position because of the pitch, but the fact cannot be ignored that the pitch is not right for a Test match as ball should not be going through the top of the surface from Day 1.

Sunil Gavaskar believes that the pitch is challenging but it is not unplayable. He cites example of Rohit Sharma on how he has batted here.

Moeen Ali and Jack Leach will be the key players for England on Day 3. The two spinners will look to bowl out England as soon as possible.

Any target above 300 would be challenging on this surface as seen in the first innings. But India would look to reach somewhere close to 350-400 run lead to completely stave off the competition.

After the end of the second day’s play, Axar spoke about Root’s dismissal. In a conversation with his teammate and senior batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, the left-arm off-spinner said: “When I was watching the first Test, I noticed that Joe Root plays a lot of sweep and reverse sweep shots, and I thought that with the speed that I bowl at, I had the opportunity to get him out, and I wanted my first wicket to be his dismissal.

“I thought that if he tries to sweep my delivery, he may get out LBW. When he went for the sweep shot and made the mistake, to get an in-form batsman who has recently hit multiple centuries and double centuries. You can see it in the video how happy I was to get the wicket,” Axar said.

EVERYTHING WAS PLANNED!

R Ashwin pointed out that Rishabh Pant needs a break from constant comparisons with other wicketkeepers.

“He was constantly compared with the great M S Dhoni for a long time. Now he gets compared for his wicket-keeping with (Wriddhiman) Saha, this that and all that, sometimes it’s just better to give a break and let people build on confidence,” Ashwin said speaking at the end of the second day’s play.

Do you agree?

“I’m all for a good contest between bat and ball in test match cricket but this pitch in Chennai is unacceptable at test match level. You can’t have the ball going through the top of the surface on day 1 from the main part of the pitch. Ie not from the footmarks,” Mark Waugh wrote on Twitter.

Thoughts on Waugh’s comments on the pitch?

Hello and welcome to our live blog on Day 3 of the 2nd Test between India and England. The stage is set for the hosts to set up a mammoth target for England to chase on a tricky surface. The spinners will be key for England on Day 3 to bowl out India as soon as possible. Plenty of action in store!