: IND vs ENG, 5th test: Pujaras unbeaten fifty stretches Indias lead to 257 on Day 3 #IndiaNEWS #Cricket Birmingham: An unbeaten half-century by top-order batter Cheteshwar Pujara stretched Indias lead

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IND vs ENG, 5th test: Pujaras unbeaten fifty stretches Indias lead to 257 on Day 3 #IndiaNEWS #Cricket
Birmingham: An unbeaten half-century by top-order batter Cheteshwar Pujara stretched Indias lead to 257 on day three of the Edgbaston Test against England on Sunday. At stumps, India are 125/3 in 45 overs, with Pujara stitching an unbeaten stand of 50 with Rishabh Pant (30 not out).
Gaining a 132-run lead after Mohammed Siraj picked four wickets while Jasprit Bumrah scalped three in a second session comeback to bowl out England for 284 in 61. 3 overs, with Jonny Bairstow making a belligerent 106. India will be aware that England have had chased 277, 299 and 296 in their last three games and would need to bat for as long as possible to inch closer to gaining the Pataudi Trophy.
In the final session, Hanuma Vihari was enticed by Stuart Broad to drive, but the safe hands of Bairstow took the catch safely at slip. Virat Kohli got off the mark with a cover drive and replayed it when Broad returned in his next over. Pujara continued with his risk-free play and even survived a close lbw appeal when Matthew Potts rapped him on his front pad.
Kohli stroked James Anderson for an impressive off-drive before Ben Stokes got one to kick up from length and took the glove edge of Kohli to wicketkeeper Sam Billings, who spilled it but Joe Root at first slip completed the catch on rebound. Pujara continued to be patient in leaving balls outside the off-stump, rotating the strike judiciously and hitting an occasional boundary. Pant, the first innings centurion, was off and running with a flick through deep mid-wicket off Broad.
As Englands bowlers continued to feed balls to Pant straight towards the leg-stump, he picked ones and twos easily while drilling easy boundaries through mid-on and mid-wicket regions. He even resisted the temptation of hitting Joe Root big when the part-time off-spinner floated loopy deliveries outside off-stump.
Pujaras work on holding one end up bore fruit when he brought up his fifty in his comeback Test with a single flicked through deep mid-wicket before Pant was deceived by low bounce on an attempted cut, which wicketkeeper Sam Billings couldnt grab, making it a day which clearly belonged to India.
Earlier, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah looking threatening with the ball, beating the outer as well as inner edges of both Stokes and Bairstow multiple times. In between, Bairstow had an exchange of words with Virat Kohli, who was fielding in the slip cordon.
From 34th over, England seemed to shift gears, with Stokes and Bairstow taking a boundary each off Shami and the latter welcoming Siraj with back-to-back boundaries on both sides of the wicket. Stokes had luck on his side when he skied a shot off Shami, but Shardul Thakur shelled the chance at cover, giving him a life on 18.

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