Virat Kohli’s continued brilliance remained the one barrier between England and a first innings lead as India went to tea on Day 3 at 348/6, a narrow 52 runs behind England.

Kohli remained unbeaten on 82, but it was a session divided in two halves. Before the drinks break, he was not as fluent, scoring only 11 off 47 balls. But as wickets fell around him, the Indian captain reverted to his familiar marauding ways, sweeping Adil Rashid for two boundaries in one over and another one in the next. Rashid will rue a tough catch he dropped off him.

For England though, it was a much better session. They finally got the wicket of Murali Vijay who departed after making 116, hitting it back to Rashid who took a good catch. Moeen Ali then accounted for the newbie Karun Nair, who was adjudged leg-before-wicket after a long review. The third umpire finally felt there was no edge on the bat and he was given out.

Ironically, it was Joe Root who starred, then. Parthiv Patel was out nicking behind and Ravichandran Ashwin was caught for a duck as Keaton Jennings took another smart catch at short leg.

Ravindra Jadeja, fresh off a great knock in the last Test, was not in the mood to hang around. He combined with Kohli to add runs at a quick pace, even hitting a six on his way a breezy unbeaten 21. If these two can bat for a while longer, England will be batted out of this Test.

Brief scores:

India 348/6 (Murali Vijay 116, Virat Kohli 82 not out; Joe Root 2/17, Moeen Ali 2/118) trail England 400 by 52 runs