Twitter Reactions: Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara save the day for India; England on top in Chennai
Pant's 91 and Pujara's 73 helped India recover from 73/4 to end the day at 257/6.
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England are well on top in the first Test against India in Chennai. After posting a mammoth total of 578 runs in the first innings, they have reduced the hosts to 257/6 at the end of Day 3. Dom Bess was the wrecker-in-chief picking four wickets including that of the skipper Virat Kohli. The visitors will now be hoping to enforce the follow-on while India will be looking to bat as long as possible and most importantly, go past 379.
Earlier in the day, England added 23 more runs in 10.1 overs before losing both their wickets. While Bess was pinned in front of the stumps by Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Ashwin castled James Anderson to wrap England’s innings for 578. Bumrah and Ashwin both picked three scalps each while Ishant Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem shared four wickets equally.
Openers get out early
India needed a good start from their openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. But that wasn’t the case. Rohit first pushed at a harmless delivery outside the off-stump only to edge it to the wicket-keeper Jos Buttler. Gill looked attractive in his shot-making and raced to 29 in quick time. But he played one too many shots and ended up getting caught at mid-on off Jofra Archer.
Virat Kohli endured an off day with the bat then with Dom Bess getting him on 11. Ajinkya Rahane also followed him soon thanks to a splendid catch from Joe Root to leave India tottering at 73/4 only in the 27th over of the innings. At the other end though Cheteshwar Pujara looked rock solid as usual and made sure he arrested the collapse.
A Pant Special again
Rishabh Pant then came out and went all guns blazing especially against the left-arm spinner Jack Leach. The southpaw played his shots fearlessly taking on England’s bowlers. Within no time, he reached his half-century as well. Meanwhile, Pujara also used his feet well to keep the opposition bowlers at bay. The duo added 119 runs for the fourth wicket before India’s number three got out in the most unfortunate manner.
Pujara rocked back to a short ball from Bess and pulled fiercely only for the ball to hit the shoulder of the short-leg fielder and lob to Rory Burns at mid-wicket. The usually calm Pujara was furious as well but had to walk back to the pavilion. England’s off-spinner then trapped Pant as well who was looking to good to notch up a well-deserved century.
Pant scored 91 off just 88 balls but his dismissal left India reeling at 225/6 and the thoughts of the team getting bowled started lingering. But Washington Sundar once again proved his mettle with the bat and Ravi Ashwin supported him well. The duo batted out the last 17.2 overs adding 32 runs for the seventh wicket. India are still a fair way away from avoiding the follow-on and would want Ashwin and Sundar to bat the same way on fourth morning.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Really enjoyed that day. It had everything: terrific new ball spell from Jofra Archer; Dom Bess’ best spell in England colours; great catch at cover from Joe Root; classy batting from Cheteshwar Pujara and a thrilling counter attack from Rishabh Pant. Fantastic
— Mike atherton (@Athersmike) February 7, 2021
Wonderful Test Match Day in India. Had a bit of everything. Wickets, great shots, fantastic catches. Test cricket is flying at the moment, have a look what the Windies have done… 🔥 #INDvENG
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) February 7, 2021
Errr…. @RishabhPant17 was enjoying that knock #INDvENG
— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) February 7, 2021
This looks a really good Test match pitch …
— David 'Bumble' Lloyd (@BumbleCricket) February 7, 2021
Ooh , if Jack Leach had an ‘arm’ ball ……..
— David 'Bumble' Lloyd (@BumbleCricket) February 7, 2021
Setting all things aside, Rishabh Pant got 91 today. Following up on scores of 89* 23 & 97 before this. 89* being a great Test match innings.
So that’s 👍👍👍to Rishabh Pant the batsman. #INDvENG— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 7, 2021
The high and lows of Pant, he will change a game on its head but in doing so will miss out on the odd personal milestone. Need players like that in your lineup. That's a good days entertainment. #INDvENG #cricket
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) February 7, 2021
Lot of luck in cricket and not the BESS of luck for Pujara. #INDvENG #cricket
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) February 7, 2021
Joe Root aves 70.7 v spin, Kohli 69.0 … But against off-spin specifically: Root 71.2, Kohli 53.1. !!! So @root66 is factually a better player of spin than Virat … #Fact #INDvENG
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 7, 2021
Root bowls, he will pick up wickets!
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) February 7, 2021
Mindfulness is knowing what exactly is your strengths and weaknesses and applying them ,Pujara and Pant have done exactly that #INDvsENG #CricitwithBadri
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) February 7, 2021
The way Virat & Ajinkya got out is disappointing!
Attack is the best defence… shouldn't have allowed the spinners to settle in!#INDvENG— Vinod Kambli (@vinodkambli349) February 7, 2021
Brilliant from England. Good to see Bess bowling like this massive improvement!! But @RishabhPant17 wow could not take my eyes of that!!Big last session of the day.. LOVE TEST CRICKET!!
— Ian Bell (@Ian_Bell) February 7, 2021
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