India recovered from a flurry of wickets in the first session to end the day on a high riding on wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant's third Test century and Washington Sundar's third Test fifty. The two left-handers forged a 107-run partnership to turn the tide in the home side's favour after they were in a spot of bother at 146/6, still trailing 59 runs of England's score.
Resuming on an overnight score of 24/1, India didn't have a great start to the first session on the second session as they lost a couple of wickets in quick succession. Cheteshwar Pujara was removed by left-arm spinner Jack Leach for just 17 and all-rounder Ben Stokes got ride of skipper Virat Kohli for a duck. India were reduced to 41/3.
Rohit Sharma, who continued his form played patiently to grind a beautiful innings. He found Rahane a perfect ally as he was positive from the outset. However, his aggression was short-lived as he became Anderson's second victim.
Pant came in at 80/4. Both Pant and Rohit took their own sweet time and focussed on reducing the deficit first. They got the team's score past 100, however, Rohit couldn't continue for long as he was trapped in front of wicket by Ben Stokes, who was having a sensational day.
After Rohit' departure, Pant took the matter into his own hands. Off-spinner Ashwin also went quickly after that and he found the required support from Washington Sundar. Once, Pant reached his half-century, he became unstoppable as the runs started flowing from both ends.
The duo made a mockery of the new ball as they keep dispatching it over the fielders' heads towards the boundary. Pant brought up his next fifty runs off just 33 balls as he hit his first hundred playing in India, after having three scores in the 90s.
Pant got out soon after, but Sundar took over from him as he smashed his third half-century in Test cricket.
India finished the day on 294/7, leading by 89 runs with three days still left in the game.
