Murali Vijay-Cheteshwar Pujara stand set a solid platform for India and then it was Kohli’s show with the lower order. The middle-order collapse, which saw Karun Nair and Parthiv Patel make the long walk back without making substantial contributions, did raise English hopes but Kohli had other ideas. The skipper dropped anchor and with No.9 Jayant Yadav, he piled on the runs. In the process, Kohli became the first Indian batsman to hit three double hundreds in a calendar year and continued with his incredible run, across formats, in the last 12 months.
Day 4 was a day of records for India as Jayant became the first No.9 to hit a hundred for India and his 200+ stand with Kohli was the best ever for the hosts for the wicket. In his third match, Jayant has already hit a hundred and fifty each, and is turning out to be a valuable contributor lower down the order. After getting bowled out for 631, India started well with the ball as Bhuvneshwar Kumar trapped first-innings centurion Jennings for a duck in the very first over. Spin was introduced early and Ravindra Jadeja gave India two more wickets as he scalped Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali in quick succession. Jadeja has now picked the England skipper’s wicket for the fourth time in the four matches of the ongoing five-match Test series.
Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow did show some promise with a positive approach but the former’s wicket, and Jake Ball’s wicket at the stroke of stumps, gave India a strong grip over the match, putting them in a solid position to take a 3-0 lead in the series against England.
(Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
