India vs England, 1st Test Day 3 - As it happened

Sam Curran hit a run-a-ball half-century as England fought back to top India in the final session of day 3.

Image Courtesy: Twitter/@ICC

A dramatic day comes to an end. India bowled brilliantly to restrict England to 180. The hosts, on the other hand, fought back to knock the Indians off balance. England need five wickets and India require 84 runs to win the first Test. It is not going to be easy for India but two good partnerships could do the trick for the visitors. Expect a neck-to-neck battle on Day 4 of the first Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham. 

Here are the highlights from Day 3:

# That's a wrap! Thank you for joining us, stay tuned for live updates from Day 4

That's Stumps on Day 3 of the 1st Test.#TeamIndia 110/5, need 84 runs to win the 1st Test.#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/bZ58dvJ5hm

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 3, 2018

India 110/5 ( Virat Kohli 43*,  Dinesh Karthik 18*)

#Stumps!! 

# Joe Root brings Adil Rashid into the attack. 

# Testing times for the Kohli-led Indian team. Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik have built a small partnership of 25 runs. They need to bat the day out. Dinesh Karthik has played 30 deliveries now and will try to make the most of this golden opportunity. India 103/5 after 32 overs. India need 91 to win. 

# The Indian batsmen continue to go down jabbing at deliveries outside the off-stump. It again comes down to skipper Kohli and the lower order to lift India to victory from this stage. Dinesh Karthik is in at number seven. Can India hang around till stumps on Day 3? 

# India 78/5!!

# Wicket!!  James Anderson bowls a beauty, the ball moves away from Ashwin, who nudges the ball back to Bairstow. India in deep trouble. 

#India 67/4 after 22 overs. Ravichandran Ashwin is in at number six. 

# Wicket!! Ajinkya Rahane's poor form continues, throws his bat at an off stump ball and the ball takes an inside edge low to keeper Bairstow. India four down.

# Click here for the detailed scorecard. 

# India 46/3 after 15 overs. Ajinkya Rahane is in at number five. 

# Wicket!!! Ben Stokes strikes, bowls a brilliant delivery and KL Rahul ends up dropping his shoulders and edges the ball to Bairstow. Rahul departs for 13. 

#  Both Murali Vijay (6) and Shikhar Dhawan (13) gave in to Stuart Broad's probing length. Virat Kohli and Lokesh Rahul have their eye in the middle and patiently batted past Anderson-Broad spell.

#  It is not going to be easy for India. Conditions are in England's favour, the ball is carrying and moving around well. The Indian batsmen have to put their head down, cover the line of the ball and avoid pushing at anything pitched outside the off-stump. India have two days and six sessions to chase and need to patiently wear out the English bowlers. Test cricket is all about temperament. 

# India 22/2. Virat Kohli is in at number four. 

# Wicket!! Broad strikes again!! Shikhar Dhawan flashes hard and edges it back to keeper Bairstow. Dhawan departs for 13. 

# 173 runs is India's highest successful chase in England.  It came in 1971 when Ajit Wadekar-led Indian team beat England by 4 wickets in the third Test. It was India's first Test win in England.

# India 19/1. KL Rahul is in at number three. 

# Wicket!! Stuart Broad's ball shapes in after pitching and hits Murali Vijay, who leaves the ball, plumb on front. Broad makes the first breakthrough. 

# India 16/0 after five overs. Click here for the detailed scorecard. 

# Dropped!! James Anderson bowls an outswinger, Murali Vijay pushes a drive but ends up edging the ball to Dawid Malan, who drops it at second slip. 

# Interestingly, if India win this match, it will be their highest successful chase in England. 

# Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay open the innings for India.

# Sam Curran scored a run-a-ball fifty, helping England to a competitive lead of 193 runs. The Indian bowlers were brilliant throughout the day. Ishant Sharma's angling in delivery disrupted the English line-up. He scalped his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests, his second in England, to put India in a comfortable position. Earlier Ravichandran Ashwin spun a web around the top-order to finish with match figures of 7/121, which is the third-best match figures for an Indian spinner in England. 

# India need 194 runs to win the first Test. 

# Wicket!! Sam Curran nudges Umesh Yadav's away-swinger back to keeper Karthik. Curran departs for 63 off 65 balls, a fine knock comes to an end. That's it, England are all out for 180 runs. 

#England 176/9, lead by 189 runs. 

# Wicket!!  Ishant Sharma angles the ball in which moves away from Stuart Broad, who edges the ball to Shikhar Dhawan. Ishant takes his fifth wicket. 

# Interestingly, Sam Curran, 20, becomes the second youngest English player to score a Test 50 batting at number eight or below. 

# Half-century: What a time to bring up his maiden half-century! He has lifted the lead to 180 runs with a 54-ball 50.  Sam Curran is playing a gem of an innings and could be England's next big all-rounder. A recovery of sorts for England?

# England 135/8, lead by 148 runs. Click here for the detailed scorecard. 

# Wicket!!  Umesh Yadav bowls a beauty! The ball comes back in to knock the off-stump out of the ground. Adil Rashid departs for 16 runs and his vital 49-run partnership with Sam Curran comes to an end.

# The players are back and play resumes. A healthy breather for the Indian bowlers, they will start fresh now and look to take the remaining 3 wickets. 

# England 131/7, lead by 144 runs. 

# Bad-light! The Umpires call bad light and suspend play for now, the players take a break. 

# Dropped!! Umesh Yadav bowls it full, Adil Rashid flashes hard, the edge carries to first slip but Shikhar Dhawan fumbles. England 130/7 after 41 overs. Click here for the detailed scorecard. 

# Anything from here is bonus runs for England. Adil Rashid and Sam Curran are flashing edges to the boundary lines and England will be happy to take these valuable runs. They lead by 138 runs now and India need to stop leaking runs. The pitch is assisting swing bowling and even a 200-run target could prove out to be daunting for India. India should not forget that James Anderson and Stuart Broad are a deadly pair in these conditions. 

# England 100/7, lead by 113 runs. Click here for the detailed scorecard. 

Now Jos Buttler goes! Three wickets in an over either side of the break for Ishant Sharma, all caught by the keeper or in the slips - what a spell of fast bowling!

— ICC (@ICC) August 3, 2018

# Ishant Sharma is on fire, takes three big wickets of Bairstow (28), Stokes (6) and Buttler (1) in one over. England are giving it away here. 

# England 87/7!

# Wicket! England in deep trouble!! Ishant angles the ball in and Jos Buttler flashes his bat and hands a regulation catch to keeper Dinesh Karthik. England are seven wickets down.

#A great session for India. The hosts are off-balance and look clueless against Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin. Every delivery has something to offer and the Indian bowlers have put India in the driver’s seat here. Virat Kohli, who used all his bowlers in the first innings, hasn’t turned towards Hardik Pandya or Umesh Yadav. Ishant and Ashwin seem to do the trick. India have a great opportunity to wrap the English side under 200 runs. Expect India to come all out attacking after lunch.

# Lunch break!

# England 86/6, lead by 99 runs!!  ( Ishant Sharma 3/21, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/34) 

# Wicket!! Another angling ball forces Stokes to drop his shoulders and edges the ball towards Virat Kohli, who takes a brilliant catch at third slip. Advantage India. 

# England 85/5. Click here for the detailed scorecard. 

#Wicket!! Ishant strikes again. The ball comes in towards Jonny Bairstow and nudges the ball to Shikhar Dhawan at first slip. Excellent bowling. England lose their fifth wicket. 

# Ben Stokes is in at number six.

# Wicket!! Ishant comes from around the wicket, sets-up a dangerous angle. The ball moves away from Dawid Malan, who edges the ball to Rahane at gully. England are struggling here. England 70/4. 

# Fun-fact, Ashwin has now taken 200 wickets under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. He has also dismissed Alastair Cook nine times in Tests. 

# Ishant Sharma looks in a good rhythm and is bowling fuller than the previous innings, a length the English bowlers used when India was batting.  

# England need partnerships at this stage but India sit in a comfortable position and can take the game away from the hosts. Ravichandran Ashwin, who picked up four crucial wickets in the first innings, has already spun his web around the English top-order. A wicket or two at this stage will put India in the driver's seat. England 50/3 after 18 overs. Click here for the detailed scorecard. 

# England 39/3. Jonny Bairstow is in at number five. 

# Wicket!! Ashwin strikes again. Joe Root (14) flicks a turning delivery towards KL Rahul, who takes a sharp catch at leg-slip. This could be costly for England. 

# Interestingly, Joe Root has a 50+ score in eight of his last ten 2nd innings. 

# England 19/2. 

# Wicket!! What a delivery! Ashwin flights it up, draws Jennings to push at the ball and the drift takes an edge to KL Rahul at first slip. The off-spinner is on fire. 

Ravichandran Ashwin continued to trouble Alastair Cook got the better of him with a ripper onto his off-stump in his second over. Cook was dismissed for a duck as England were 9/1 with a lead of 22 runs at stumps on Day 2. The hosts would look to bat India out of the match with a competitive score.

England had dominated India throughout the first two sessions but a Virat Kohli special lifted India to safety in the third session. India enjoyed a healthy start to their innings but left-arm pacer Sam Curran took three wickets in consecutive overs to jolt the Indian innings. The rest of the  Indian batsmen succumbed to pace but Skipper Kohli survived the probing England bowlers to hit his 22nd Test century and his first in England. Kohli smashed 149 off 225 balls and lifted India from 182/8 to 274/10.

Playing XI:

India XI: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma. 

England XI: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.