A brilliant day of Test cricket and England have edged ahead mainly due to the innings of Moeen Ali, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. While Moeen scored a superb century, Joe Root chipped in with a flawless 88. Bairstow continued his imperious form this year but was dismissed for 49 against the run of play.
The day started slowly for the visitors as Alastair Cook won the toss and batted again. However, Ishant Sharma got the better of Keaton Jennings and Ravindra Jadeja accounted for Cook. The first session belonged to the hosts.
However, England came roaring back and Moeen and Root counter-attacked and this yielded dividends. Root was adjudged out by the DRS, but Bairstow and Moeen ensured that no quick wickets fell. Bairstow was looking assured at the crease but then a lapse in his concentration resulted in his dismissal at 49.
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Stokes and Ali went into stumps, and England would be happy with the eventual score of 284/4.
The Indian bowlers toiled hard, and only Jadeja was able to create opportunities. He picked up 3 wickets in the day, even as Ashwin went wicketless. Amit Mishra who came into the side for an injured Jayant Yadav did not look impressive at all. Ishant Sharma looked decent with the new ball.
All in all, the day belonged to England and now they should look to drive home the advantage.
Here are the reactions from in and around the cricketing community:
Joe Root
I think it (the day) was a good, especially after the start we had. The way we fought back into the game was excellent and the way Mo (Moeen) batted against the spinners the whole day was very good. The wicket was a bit tacky than what we have come up against so far, so we had to make the change slightly. I thought the way Jonny (Bairstow) and Mo adapted in the second session was excellent. As soon as you go out there you are switched on mentally. I don't know. It's something that I should ask Santa for as I get home for Christmas (Talking about not being able to covert fifties to big hundreds). I was just trying to play the ball on its merit. Unfortunately, I keep making that mistake. I was adamant I didn't hit that (talking about his dismissal). There was a spike on Snicko, which is quite frustrating, but you get on with. It's happened, it's gone. We'll have to see what the pitch has to offer us tomorrow, hopefully, it's a little bit firmer.
Other reactions:
Kabir Ali, former England cricketer
Sanjay Manjrekar
Ian Pont
David Lloyd
Paul Newman
Harsha Bhogle
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