India v England, 3rd Test Day 3: 5 Talking Points

The third day’s play at Mohali well and truly belonged to the India spinners as the impressed with both bat and ball. Three half-centuries prevailed as Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jayant Yadav all helped themselves to impressive half-centuries. As for England, they are reeling at 78/4 at the close of play with most of their best batsmen back in the hut. Even Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow could do little about the spinning ball in spite of being two of the most impressive batsmen for England on the tour.

The controversial Decision Review System also came to the rescue for both sides including a terrible wait during the Alastair Cook dismissal as well. Ben Stokes, however, shined for the Brits as he helped by removing the last few hurdles of the Indian batting order along with Adil Rashid as they had done on the previous day. While there were a plethora of talking points on the day, here are five of the most prominent talking points from the day’s play.

1. India spinners shine with the bat this time

The Indian spinners have been all over England like a rash in the ongoing series. Given the fact that they spun the Indians to an impressive win in the second Test at Vizag, it was only certain that they would once again come to their team’s aid. It was a matter of time as well, something that the Indians have familiarized themselves with over the years. However, this time around, the Indian spinners impressed with the bat in the first session of the day.

Not many know how many times such an event has taken place, but it is certainly one of the rarer events wherein all three spinners score half-centuries. Ravi Ashwin had reached his milestone the previous evening before Jayant Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja then went on to help themselves to half-centuries later on in the day. Jadeja made a futile attempt to race towards a well-deserved ton before he was inadvertently dismissed. Jayant Yadav also helped himself to an impressive 55 before playing a terrible shot that got him out soon after.

2. Ben Stokes completes five-for

As mentioned earlier, the most impressive bowler on the day for England was Ben Stokes. As Nasser Hussain said earlier in the day, Stokes was soon becoming the go-to man as far as Alastair Cook was concerned. While his batting performances have seen him steal the spotlight in recent times, Stokes was in amazing form with the ball as he completed yet another five-for in Test matches with figures of 5/73. In the first two sessions that Stokes bowled, he picked two wickets including that of Ravichandran Ashwin who threatened to smash a Test ton. He also added the scalp of Jayant Yadav who was dismissed to a poor shot. Of the 10 wickets that fell, only Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid featured in the wickets column with five and four respectively.

3. Alastair Cook lives dangerously as DRS bails him out

For some reason, this outing in the subcontinent has been a rather ordinary one for Alastair Cook. He has not been able to make any impact with the spinning ball and this has seen his average drop to low levels, something he is not used to. However, this particular innings was different for Cook for a number of reasons. Of course, he did not look at ease even for a few seconds, but the DRS system had to make its way back in to save Cook not once, but twice. The first time was when Ravi Ashwin believed that he had trapped his man leg-before. The nerve-wracking ordeal was that it was the ball-tracking that took more time to reveal the judgment. Cook was bailed out yet again by the DRS before Ravi Ashwin breached the gate and cleaned him up. Yet another unfortunate thing was that Cook opened the batting with Joe Root given the fact that Haseeb Hameed had a broken finger.

4. Ashwin all over England like a rash

If his impressive batsmanship was not enough, Ravi Ashwin was more than impressive with the ball as well for the Indians. Once again, as he had done in the first innings, Ashwin began pitching the ball in the rough, something that yielded him wickets from time to time. Moreover, the fact of the matter remained that Ashwin was once again going to be that player who was going to be the one that made a difference for the Indians. After a few run-ins with the DRS, Alastair Cook became Ashwin’s first scalp before Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes also succumbed to the spin. Jayant Yadav removed Jonny Bairstow as the Indians now stand six wickets adrift of another win.

5. Indians conclude the day with a lead

At the end of the day, England finds themselves 56-runs behind the Indian total. However, that 56 runs seem quite a bridge far as the spinners has made telling contributions with the ball, something that the Britons certainly were not expecting. Joe Root was the only one who remained to be unbeaten on 36 as Gareth Batty would eventually come out to make his way as a nightwatchman. While history remains to be on the side of England, India still remains to hold the upper hand in the match in the grand scheme of things.