India v England | Kohli-Pujara put hosts in control after initial tumble

Brief Scores: India 317/4 in 90 overs (Kohli 151*, Pujara 119; Anderson 3/44, Broad 1/39)

With India placed at a precarious position at 22/2, skipper Virat Kohli joined hands with Cheteshwar Pujara to rebuild the innings. The wicket looked like a batting beauty, and the duo were not troubled much by the Englishmen.

England introduced spin in the 11th over, but they weren’t able to extract much turn. It allowed the duo to settle down and play even against the turn without much fear, as Kohli did when he smashed Ansari over mid-on to bring up a half-century stand.

Although the batting was largely solid, the pair countered some nervous moments while running between the wickets. Pujara survived a close run-out opportunity in the 18th over when he just about made it back with a dive after a mix-up. Two balls later, the confusion hadn’t dissipated as he lost his bat midway on the pitch before running back.

If the honors of the first session went to both the teams, the second session saw the dominance of two men- Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. They toyed with the English bowlers to add 188 more runs in the post-lunch session to put pressure on the visitors.

While Kohli painted a picture perfect of a classic batsman, Pujara raised the ante by taking the spinners apart. He pulled Ansari for a six over deep mid-wicket and then stepped out to drive the next ball down the ground for a four. After that, he again danced down the track to drive Rashid to the long-off boundary.

Finally, England breakthrough the Indian resistance

Almost uncharacteristically, Pujara completed his century with a huge six over mid-wicket off Rashid. Kohli, on the other hand, was a lot more patient in his 90s and took almost 8 balls to go from 98 to his 100, and that too arrived with a gentle push through the off-side off Anderson in the 63rd over.

At the other end, Kohli survived a review-scare as well. In the last ball of the 80th over, the Indian skipper tried a reverse sweep and was beaten by the ball’s trajectory. The umpire gave him not out, but England opted to review the call. The replay, however, showed that the umpire was correct, just about, as the ball was just edging the leg stump.

The spinners began to extract a lot more turn in the final session with the ball even keeping low on a lot of occasions. The likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja would have rubbed their hands in glee looking at the turn Moeen Ali and Rashid were able to extract from the wicket.