Pujara closes to century, Rohit’s half-century, India struggles to save the match

Mr. Dependable Cheteshwar Pujara reached a century on Friday after scoring an unbeaten 91 in the second innings of the third Test against England on the third day of the third cricket Test match with opener Rohit Sharma (59) for the second wicket with 82 and captain Virat Kohli (59). Struggling till the stumps on the third day, India made 215 runs for the loss of two wickets in the second innings and needed 139 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

Pujara, who has been in search of form for a long time, returned to form at the right time and he has hit 15 fours in his innings of 91 runs off 180 balls. Pujara was well supported by Rohit Sharma, who scored 59 runs off 156 balls, including nine fours and a six, before being caught leg before by Ollie Robinson after tea time. This was Rohit’s 14th half-century.

After the wicket of Rohit, Pujara found another good partner in the form of Virat. Virat has so far hit six fours in 45 not out off 94 balls. Pujara and Virat added 99 runs from 196 balls in an unbeaten third wicket partnership till the third day’s play was ended four overs earlier due to poor lighting.

Earlier in the morning session, India had lost their opener Lokesh Rahul. Rahul was caught at the hands of Jonny Bairstow standing at slips off Craig Overton. At lunch, Rohit Sharma was playing on 25 runs.

England’s team was all out for 432 runs in the first innings today. England started playing 423 runs for eight wickets. Craig Overton and Olly Robinson took the field to extend the lead, but he could only bat for 3.2 overs in the morning session. As a result only nine more runs added to the lead. For India, Mohammed Shami was the most successful with four wickets for 95 runs in 28 overs while Haspreet Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Siraj got two wickets each. Ishant Sharma did not take any wicket for 92 runs.