The sight of a fast bowler dismantling a batsman’s stumps is among the great sights in cricket. Not often though have Indian bowlers been on the happier end of it. This Test, though, has seen some of that change. First, on the second day in Vizag, Mohammed Shami broke Alastair Cook’s off-stump in half to give India their first opening.

Then, just before lunch on the third day, Umesh Yadav uprooted Jonny Bairstow’s leg stump to bring an end to a promising 110-run partnership and ensure India went into the break still with a strong grasp on the match.

Before that wicket, Bairstow, along with Ben Stokes had ensured that England put up a grim fight. Resuming at 103/5, the two put away the bad balls and showed good application among the spinners to take the runs ticking. A frustrated Ravichandran Ashwin even wasted a review on a leg-before-wicket call where it was found that the ball had actually touched the bat while Wriddhiman Saha missed a tough stumping chance. Kohli ultimately had to turn to his pacers.

That turned out to be a masterstroke. Yadav has a problem with accuracy but when he can land it on the right spot, he is unplayable. It was one such delivery which broke England’s hopes of having a wicketless session. An unplayable reverse-swinging yorker had Bairstow all caught up in shambles. The ball squeezed through him and thundered into the stumps to leave England struggling again.

Brief scores:

India 455 (Virat Kohli 167, Cheteshwar Pujara 119; Moeen Ali 3/98, James Anderson 3/62) lead England 191/6 (Ben Stokes 55 not out, Joe Root 53; Ravichandran Ashwin 2/53, Mohammed Shami 1/11, Mohammed Shami 1/23) by 264 runs.