Twitter Reactions: Ravi Ashwin's fifth Test century livens up Chepauk; India only 7 wickets away from victory

For the third day in a row in the ongoing second Test in Chennai, Team India grabbed the honours against England. At stumps, England were reeling at 53 for 3. Dan Lawrence and skipper Joe Root will resume the action with the bat on day four. Earlier in the day, the home side was bundled for 286 in their second innings.

Chasing an improbable total of 482, England were off to a poor start once again as their openers failed to get going for the second time in the match. Dominic Sibley’s painful short stay at the crease came to an end in the 9th over when Axar Patel trapped him in front. The right-handed batsman departed after scoring 3 off 25 balls. Burns and Lawrence then played some positives shots to relieve some pressure off themselves.

But just when it looked like they would close the day unbeaten, Ravichandran Ashwin struck to remove Burns for 25. Six balls later, the visitors suffered another setback when Axar dismissed night-watchman Jack Leach for a first-ball duck to reduce England to 50 from 3 from 49 for 1. Root and Lawrence then survived a testing phase to ensure that their team did not lose any more wickets.

Ashwin’s exceptional display with the bat

Earlier in the day, Ravichandran Ashwin delighted the Chepauk crowd with a scintillating century. The all-rounder, who had taken 5 wickets in the first innings, scored 106 to help India recover from a poor position and post 286. India lost a flurry of wickets in the first hour of the day and found themselves reeling at 106 for 6 in no time.

But before England could make more inroads in the game, skipper Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin steadied the ship with a 96-run stand. Kohli was looking solid with his defence and leaves and only went for his shots when a loose delivery was on offer. The right-handed batsman was eventually out for 62. But unlike Kohli, Ashwin made the most of his start and went on to score his fifth Test hundred.

He helped India add 84 more runs after Kohli became the seventh wicket to fall. Ashwin was the last India wicket to fall as his 106-run knock came off 148 deliveries and was studded with 14 fours and a solitary six.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the day’s play: