INDIA SET ENGLAND DAUNTING TARGET
NOTTINGHAM: England were 23 without loss in their second innings, requiring a further 498 runs to reach a colossal victory target of 521, at stumps on the third day of the third Test against India at Trent Bridge on Monday.
Alastair Cook was nine not out and Keaton Jennings 13 not out after England were left with a tricky nine overs to bat in the day following India’s second-innings declaration at 352 for seven.
India captain Virat Kohli topscored with 103 following the star batsman’s 97 in the tourists’ firstinnings 329.
Meanwhile Hardik Pandya followed his five for 28 in England’s meagre first-innings 161 with a runa-ball 52 not out, including seven fours and a six.
No side have made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test match than the West Indies’ 418 for seven against Australia at St John’s, Antigua, in 2003.
England’s corresponding record is their 332 for seven against Australia at Melbourne back in 1928/29. India are bidding to become just the second team in Test history to win a five-match series from 2-0 down, a feat achieved by a Don Bradmaninspired Australia against England in 1936/37.
Earlier, Kohli succeeded where he had narrowly failed in the first innings by scoring a century to underline his side’s dominant position on the third day.
Kohli, who made 97 in India’s first-innings 329, was still on his tea score of 93 not out when his edged drive off an outswinger from James Anderson, armed with the new ball, burst through Keaton Jennings’s hands in the gully.
It was the latest dropped catch in the cordon by England this match and Anderson, whose duels with star batsman Kohli have been a feature of this series, put his head to his hands in evident despair after the ball went for four.
Next ball, Kohli edged Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, just short of Alastair Cook at first slip.
There was to be no denying Kohli his century and an edged boundary off Chris Woakes, his 10th four from 191 balls faced in nearly five hours at the crease, saw him to a 23rd Test hundred.
It was also his second in three matches after making 149 -- his maiden Test century in England -- in the series-opener at Edgbaston.
But having got to the landmark, Kohli was out shortly afterwards when he missed a legside flick against all-rounder Woakes and was lbw for 103.
His exit left India 261 for four in their second innings, with a colossal lead of 449 runs as they sought a victory that would reduce England’s lead in the five-match contest to 2-1.
England needed to set a new alltime record if they were to achieve an improbable triumph as the most any side have made in the fourth innings to win a Test is West Indies’ 418 for seven against Australia at St John’s, Antigua, in 2003.
India resumed Monday on 124 for two, already 292 runs in front, with Cheteshwar Pujara 33 not out and Kohli unbeaten on eight.
With three days still left to play, India could dictate the course of the game after skittling England out for 161, with Hardik Pandya taking a stunning five for 28 in six overs on Sunday.
While conditions offered a degree of assistance to swing bowlers on Sunday, they could not explain England’s latest in a long line of batting collapses.
Having been 54 for none, they lost nine wickets for 74 runs and only avoided the follow-on thanks to Jos Buttler’s 39. England lost all 10 of their wickets inside a session -- the third time that had happened since 2016.
And a score of 86 for four meant that in their past 61 Test innings, England had lost their fourth wicket having scored 100 runs or fewer on 30 occasions.
Another longstanding problem for England has been their slip catching and they floored their fifth chance in the cordon this match when Buttler, a wicketkeeper by trade, moved late at second slip before grassing a low, left-handed chance after Pujara, on 40, edged Anderson.
BAIRSTOW INJURY
To make matters worse for England, wicket-keeper and leading batsman Jonny Bairstow suffered a finger injury after failing to gather a swinging Anderson delivery.
He writhed in agony and then walked off, with an x-ray later revealing a small fracture to his left middle finger.
Bairstow was, however, expected to be able to bat if required.
England one-day gloveman Buttler, who was a wicket-keeper early in his Test career, took over behind the stumps. India got through the morning session without losing a wicket to be 194 for two at lunch.
It wasn’t until Monday’s 41st over that England had their first success of the day, with the recalled Ben Stokes getting Pujara to edge a routine chance to Cook.
Pujara faced 208 balls, with 19 fours and helped Kohli add 113 for the third wicket.