England captain Joe Root and opener Keaton Jennings guided the hosts to 92 before the opener fell lbw at the stroke of lunch.
England went into the break 92-3 with a lead of 65 in the Southampton Test against India. The visitors struck in the very first delivery after lunch with Mohammed Shami shattering the stumps of Jonny Bairstow. Root was on course for a hard-fought fifty before he was run-out by a direct hit by Shami to depart for 48. England were placed at 122-5 at the time of Root’s dismissal.
By the time tea was taken on day three, Ben Stokes (20) and Jos Buttler had guided England to 152-5 with an overall lead of 125. The English pair were going strong post tea and had taken the lead to beyond 150 before Ravi Ashwin claimed his first wicket of the innings by removing Stokes. Buttler though, has continued to go from strength to strength and has brought up a fine half-century. He was finally removed by Ishant Sharma for 69 after India had taken the second new ball. Shami struck with the final delivery of the day but England had advanced to 260-8 and had taken a 233-run overall lead by then.
The fourth Test between England and India is on a knife’s edge.
It’s up to England’s batsmen to put their foot down and accumulate runs quickly to put the pressure on India as it’s No1 team that has to do all the running.
Catch all the live update below.
