India vs England, 3rd Test: Hosts within striking distance of win at tea on Day 4

Despite an early setback, India are staring at an easy victory after strolling to 33 for 1 at tea on Day 4 of the third Test against England at Mohali, needing another 70 to win the match. Parthiv Patel was batting on a score of 16 off 11 balls, having hit the ball to the fence on three occasions, which was also the case with Cheteshwar Pujara, who was batting on 13 at the other end. Murali Vijay was the only Indian casualty of the post-lunch session, edging a short ball from Chris Woakes to Joe Root at second slip to cause a brief moment of uneasiness in the Indian camp. His departure for an eight-ball duck extended what has been the Indian opener’s poor run with the bat since his century in the first innings at Rajkot. [caption id=“attachment_3130128” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Parthiv Patel plays a sweep during India’s second innings. AP[/caption] The visitors earlier resumed from their score of 156 for 7 at the start of the second session, with Indian skipper Kohli opting to bring Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja into the attack straightaway. Haseeb Hameed and Chris Woakes saw the spinners off, before a sensational spell of fast bowling by Mohammed Shami saw two English batsmen depart inside an over. Shami first set Woakes up with a short ball that hit him on the helmet, and caused the protective piece at the back of his helmet to fall off. The very next ball was another snorter, this time along Woakes’ leg, and got a leading edge off his gloves to lob up to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Shami got his second of the innings a couple of deliveries later with another bouncer, this time Adil Rashid top-edging it to fine-leg. Hameed however, kept the fight going at the other end, and soon increased his scoring rate to bring up his second Test fifty in his third appearance, getting to his milestone with a six over midwicket. The English innings ended with James Anderson’s run-out, with Ashwin and Jadeja partnering once again to effect the dismissal.