Dom Bess excelled for his 4-55 on day three of the first Test in Chennai (Credit: BCCI)
Dom Bess took four wickets as England held on to the first Test in Chennai as India were reduced to 257-6 at the end of day three.
After the tourists were sent off for 578 early in the day, Jofra Archer (2-52) accounted for both openers before the spinner applied for a prize scalp. Virat Kohli for 11 and, with the help of a stunning catch from Joe Root, sent Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket shortly afterwards to leave the visitors 73-4.
India faced a 119 run stand for the fifth wicket between Rishabh Pant (91 from 88 balls) and Cheteshwar Pujara (73) but Bess (4-55) followed and took them both away in the the afternoon session.
A quiet seventh wicket center between Washington Sundar (33no) and Ravichandran Ashwin (8no) helped India safely through to close but they still have 321 runs going into day four.
Jack Leach enjoys Rishabh Pant on his way to fast fire 91 (Credit: BCCI)
England started the day hoping the tail could add a little more to their 555-8 night and boundaries from Bess (34) and Jack Leach (14no) helped them to 578 when the last wicket went down, the lbw previously locked by Jasprit Bumrah (3-84) with the first member of the new third ball before Ashwin (3-146) hit Jimmy Anderson (1).
The game then went awry with India’s start. The home side went at over four in the 14 pitches they batted before lunch but lost Rohit Sharma (6) and Shubman Gill (29) to Archer in the process as the Chennai surface show that he was just starting to break up.
England went ahead with the attack with their sailors and while Anderson struggled to get his line up and Archer offers some loose delivery, the latter, in particular, also caused a bit of a stir. problems for the boatman.
After passing the edge in his first outing, Archer found him in his second with a ball that went a little away from the surface to Rohit and, crucially, kicked a little more what the opener expected to get through to Jos Buttler.
Jofra Archer got England off to a good start with the ball as he knocked out both India openers (Credit: BCCI)
At the other end, the 21-year-old Gill looked in high form, hitting five boundaries with sweet time through the side of the leg, with nothing even punished too directly.
Ben Stokes came on to challenge him with a few shorts from all over the wicket and Archer attacked the gloves, making sure the bat knew he would not be on his own way, and in the next his step, his husband.
Gill had just drilled another end through a midwicket and was after another, just to get through his shot too early and pass the ball to Jimmy Anderson, who moved forward from midfield to catch a superb grip. .
Pujara and Kohli were able to take India in the meantime without any further damage but it didn’t take England long after lunch to bring in more as Bess provided an excellent delivery that moved away from the right-hander, the devil just a fraction but that was enough to take the inner edge and Ollie Pope grabbed a good grip at the short leg.
Rahane (1) came on but only survived six balls when he fell to a brilliant one-handed catch from Root, the England skipper diving to the left to catch him at the cover after the Indian vice-captain went off with a slight dip while he met Bess’s delivery at high tide.
India were in trouble but Pujara was getting a battery with a normal promise and Pant, coming off a beat that won a game in Australia, started with confidence, albeit a little more vigilant than usual.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant advanced 119 for fifth Indian wicket (Credit: BCCI)
That all changed with the introduction of Leach to try to attack the left winger using the big rough bits outside his stump. Pant knew what was coming and wasn’t about to sit back and wait for it to happen, instead opting to jump down on the pitch to the first member of the left arm spinner and hammered it into the stands.
He added another later and the play pattern was set. Pant watched again Bess at one end, the ball turned away without immediate danger out of the foot holes, and not to mention the sink, Pant threw just about all the kitchen appliances he found at Leach at the other end.
The result was four four-four and four-six on his way to a 40-ball fifty-some ball after Pujara, who had also gotten after Leach, went to his fifty more from 106 members in the semi-final over previous tea.
Leach had a few goals off at the start of the afternoon session but when he returned, Pant’s approach was the same and he moved into the 80s with six more.
The partnership reached 119 but just when England could start asking where the wicket was coming from, they found one with good luck.
England needed some fortunes when Bess, Ollie Pope and Rory Burns came together to take Pujara away (Credit: BCCI)
Pujara was rarely pulled from Bess, hitting the Pope at his short leg but kicked up where he was on his shoulder to Rory Burns at midwicket. Pujara was disappointed but England had made great progress.
Pant overcame his fully functional approach for the next two or three but couldn’t resist much longer, Bess deceived him with a smooth, wide delivery of a stump off and in trying to hit the ball over a long time, slice the left. he climbed high into the exterior and was captured by Leach to claim revenge of some sort.
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Sundar and Ashwin were weighed more as they tried to bring India closer to the target that followed, despite England not being expected to implement it.
The visitors quickly lost two consecutive reviews for hopeful lbw rebounds against Sundar as it headed up to Leach and although the pitch continued to offer a spin, the oldest received the ball, it went slower and there was only one more chance before stumps came; Sundar hitting Leach high above mid-off. However, Archer was unable to hold a hard grip as the ball fell over his shoulder.
A text report followed over day four of the first Test between India and England on the Sky Sports App and skysports.com from 4am on Monday.