Twitter Reactions: India toil hard as Jos Buttler ensures England nose ahead

England started the day still 21 runs in deficit and both their openers at the crease. The ball was expected to swing early on but it didn’t. Life wasn’t easy for Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings but they were still there. The partnership was broken in the 13th over when Cook edged Jasprit Bumrah to KL Rahul at third slip. The incoming batsmen found the going tough.

It was Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah who got them the first two wickets. Adil Rashid promoted to No.3 was out cheap, skipper Joe Root then dug in and wanted to make this innings count. Jennings meanwhile was on his way back and Jonny Bairstow was out for a first ball duck losing his leg-stump to Mohammed Shami. The right-arm pacer now had two in two and there was the lunch break in between. After batting well and living on the line for a while, Root was run out for an unnecessary run, just two short of his half century.

Ben Stokes once again worked hard for his runs and didn’t get plenty of them before being dismissed. Stokes before that shared another crucial partnership with Jos Buttler. After the all-rounder got out, Buttler stuck in there and found an able partner in Sam Curran. England’s new No.8 seems to really enjoy batting against India.

While Moeen Ali got the ball to turn a lot and troubled the right-handers picking a five-wicket haul, Ravichandran Ashwin couldn’t deliver at par with the expectations. He did hold one end up toiling through. Ashwin bowled 35 overs in the innings and got the ball to turn and bounce. He tried to do a lot of things and it didn’t work out. It was almost certain that the pressure of Moeen’s performance had a negative impact on him.

Towards the end, India got the big scalp of Buttler with the second new ball, Ishant got the one to swing into him and hit in front. Shami got an outside edge off Adil Rashi’s bat in the last over and England went back home with 260 runs on the board for 8 wickets and a lead of 233 runs.

Here is how Twitterati reacted to all the action on day 3:

While we have been hailing (quite rightly too) the Indian pace attack for consistently picking 20 wickets, we must also accept that they haven’t been able to wrap up the tail in this series as consistently. #EngvInd

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 1, 2018

Day 4 pitch may not be as challenging to bat as we thought start of day 3. So there is hope for India.#ENGvIND

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) September 1, 2018

Ok then, what total is going to make India start to feel uneasy chasing? #ENGvIND

— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) September 1, 2018

Noses In front now for England … #ENGvIND

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) September 1, 2018

No Rashid. All you had to was survive for two more balls before the end… #ENGvIND

— Beth Smith (@Beth_Smith05) September 1, 2018

The only positive outcome of this series is our bowling and we managed to win a test away while England has never managed to win one away in the last 20 away tests. #ENGvIND

— Vishy (@vinoth_vishy) September 1, 2018

What happens to @ashwinravi99 outside sub-continent?? Wicket column dries up!! He may will be the difference if @BCCI loses the 4th test! @cheteshwar1, @imVkohli and @ajinkyarahane88 will definitely have a tough task tomorrow if we fancy a 2-2! #ENGvIND @SonyLIV

— Janaki Mohapatra (@janaki_moha12) September 1, 2018

Adil Rashid has proven his value to this English test side. Despite all the criticism ans boycott calls. #ENGvIND

— Gaur Farmaiye !! (@Shikhar_Gaur) September 1, 2018

This game is slowly slipping away from India. #ENGvIND

— Rajeev (@rajeev_krish) September 1, 2018

Sam Curran single handedly destroying India this series.#ENGvIND #Southamptontest

— devarshi (@devarshimankad) September 1, 2018

India is out of this match. #ENGvIND

— Pritish Dinesh Sathe (@PritishDSathe1) September 1, 2018

England really have found a talent in Sam Curran. What a bright future he has. #ENGVIND

— Dan (@ZVArmy) September 1, 2018

Lead is getting heavy now .. #EnglandAdvantange @englandcricket @BCCI #ENGvIND #TeamIndia @bhogleharsha

— Pavan R Gachinmani (@rg_pavan) September 1, 2018

Even I am so frustrated to see #SamCurran batting so easily in each innings. #ENGvIND

— Mrutyunjay Mohanty (@MartianTapu) September 1, 2018

India out of the contest now! 👎#ENGvIND

— Sahil Jain (@_sphinx3) September 1, 2018

Sam Curran has left only two balls in this innings, explains the impact indian bowling has had. #EngvInd

— Monica (@monicas004) September 1, 2018

Off all the things said about Kohli one thing is worth giving to him.

He is the only world class player in the team.

Totally committed and a fighter to the core.#ENGvIND

— Troll Inc. (@troll2071) September 1, 2018

The difference between India and England is only 1 factor
All rounder
Sam curran
Ben stokes
Moen ali
Chris woakes
Vs
R Ashwin
Wish we had that quality#INDvENG #EngvInd @bhogleharsha @harbhajan_singh @vikrantgupta73 @BoriaMajumdar @virendersehwag

— ANKUSH GOYAL (@ankushg95) September 1, 2018

Sam Curran an absolute gem of a player.

Still was the correct decision to "rest" him for the previous test#ENGvIND

— Nellberg cricket 🏏 (@nellbergcricket) September 1, 2018

I want an Adelaide reverse here 😭😭 … with Virat telling the boys no matter what the target we are going for it .. and our Indian batsman coming out all guns blazing .. with Virat finishing off this one in a win. 😷😷 is it too much to ask 🙈🙈 #ENGvIND .. my heart aches

— Virat's_girl:* (@coolmonideepa) September 1, 2018

India let down by Ashwin today. Big time. Will need something special to win this.

— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) September 1, 2018