Third Test, day three: Cheteshwar Pujara leads India’s fightback with the bat at Headingley

Cheteshwar Pujara was left eyeing a first Test century in more than two years as he held firm alongside India captain Virat Kohli to keep England at bay at Headingley on Friday.

India were 215/2 in their second innings when bad light led to an early close on the third day of the third Test, still 139 runs adrift of England’s first-innings total of 432.

Pujara, however, was 91 not out and Kohli 45 not out. It was a highest score this series for both batsmen, with their unbroken stand worth 99 runs.

It was all a far cry from India’s first-innings 78 following Kohli’s decision to bat first.

As it happened: England vs India – Day 3 of the third Test at Headingley

Although Pujara has 18 hundreds from his 88 previous Tests, he has not reached three figures at this level since making a superb 193 against Australia at Sydney in January 2019.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma made 59 – the opener’s second fifty of the series following his 83 in India’s 151-run win in the second Test at Lord’s that put them 1-0 up in this five-match series.

England resumed on 423-8 after captain Joe Root had made 121, his sixth Test century this year.

But the tail added just nine runs on Friday.

Craig Overton,…

Read more