Four wickets in 13 overs at the start of the evening session helped England claw their way back into the third Test in Mohali, but a battling partnership for the seventh wicket means India will mount a first-innings lead.
The unbroken stand between Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja has recovered India’s score from 204-6 to 271-6 at the close, just 12 runs shy of England’s total.
Not for the first time this series, leg-spinner Adil Rashid was the pick of the bowlers for England, taking 3-81 from 24 overs, whilst Ben Stokes claimed 2-48, including the key wicket of Virat Kohli, who hit 61.
This all came after the tourists could only add a further 15 runs to their overnight tally of 268-8 to be dismissed for 283 but Rashid believes England had a good day overall.
“I think we’ve had a pretty good day, to get them six down on a good wicket – the bowlers did exceptionally well, we stuck to our plans and got rewarded in that last session,” said Rashid.
"It was a good effort with the ball and in the field and a very important final session.
“If you stick to your plans long enough, you get wickets. The pitch seems good enough. I feel okay but at times you don’t feel as good; that is when you have to dig deep.
“It was nice to have that variation on a good spot against Rahane. We have still got four wickets to get so we aren’t looking to batting again just yet.”
In the second over of the day, Rashid edged Mohammed Shami through to the ‘keeper on four, and then Gareth Batty was adjudged lbw to the same bowler for one. James Anderson, meanwhile, finished unbeaten on 13.
India’s opening batsman, Murali Vijay, survived a couple of early scares before playing a lazy shot to Stokes to edge behind for a curious 12.
The in-form Cheteshwar Pujara joined Vijay’s opening partner, Parthiv Patel, and saw his side through to lunch relatively untroubled on 60-1.
Upon the resumption, England grabbed a second breakthrough when Rashid successfully reviewed an lbw shout on Patel to remove him for 42.
The rest of the afternoon session, however, would belong to the batsmen as Pujara and Kohli made quiet progress to take tea on 148-2 – a commanding position considering England were all out for 283.
The tide changed in the first over after tea. Pujara climbed into Rashid’s second ball and holed out to a tumbling Chris Woakes at deep midwicket to fall for 51.
Shortly afterwards, Ajinkya Rahane’s poor series continued as he succumbed to Rashid’s googly and was given out lbw for a six-ball duck.
Karun Nair joined his skipper in the middle but lasted just four balls before a stunning piece of fielding from Jos Buttler at point saw him run him out at the non-strikers’ end for four.
Whilst carnage was ensuing around him, Kohli had calmly accumulated a half-century from 111 balls, but his patience wore thin on 61 when he loosely edged a wide ball from Stokes to Jonny Barstow behind the stumps.
England were then frustrated for the remainder of the day by Ashwin (57*) and Jadeja (37*) as the hosts reached stumps on 271-6 after an unbeaten partnership worth 67 between the pair.
Ashwin’s unbeaten half-century meant he became the first player since 2009 to hit 500 runs and take 50 wickets in Test cricket in a calendar year.
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