PPP MODEL FIRES YET RECOVERY ON THIN ICE
With a couple of days' play still left, it will be interesting to see if England give their bowlers some respite and bat again
Rishabh Pant's beautiful edge-of-the-seat hitting ended with his now customary indiscretion, putting India under the pump against a supremely confident England gunning for victory at the end of third day's play in the opening Test here on Sunday.
At stumps, India were 257 for 6 in reply to England's massive first innings score of 578 with 122 runs still needed to avoid the follow-on after Pant (91 off 88 balls) and Cheteshwar Pujara (73 off 143 balls) added 119 runs for the fifth wicket.
Washington Sundar (33 batting, 68 balls), primarily a batsman converted into a specialist off-spinner, was trying to make amends for his poor show with the ball in company of Ravichandran Ashwin (8 batting, 54 balls), who is never tired of a good on-field scrap, at stumps.
With a couple of days' play still left, it will be interesting to see if England team management decides to give its bowlers some respite if it gets a chance to enforce the follow-on.
"We have had some soft dismissals. The way I got out and how Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) got out. Ash and Washington are batting well.
There is a bit of spin but still a good pitch to bat on. Tomorrow will be crucial," Pujara said in the post-play press conference.
The day belonged to the current toast of the Indian team, Pant, who smashed five towering sixes -- all in the arc between long-on and deep mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Jack Leach (17-2-940). Leach didn't exactly know what had hit him.
Sourav Ganguly treated left-arm spinners with disdain but what Pant showed on Sunday was more of pure, unadulterated contempt.
Leach wanted to target the rough outside Pant's offstump but every time he tossed it up, the stocky man from Rourkee came out like a raging bull who had been shown the red rag and hit the spinner with the turn into the Chepauk stands.