After he shattered the stumps of Josh Tongue, the last England wicket to fall in their first innings, joy and relief played hide and seek on Jasprit Bumrah's face. There was joy for registering his 14th five-wicket haul in just 46 Tests, but more than that, Bumrah appeared relieved.
Why wouldn’t he be? If carrying a huge amount of workload so far in this series opener wasn’t enough, he had to bear the agony of his teammates dropping some simple catches that helped in England’s progress.
Had India's other bowlers bowled a little better, and the fielders held on to the chances that came their way, Shubman Gill's team would have had a much bigger lead going into the penultimate day of this Test. Instead, they are leading by just 96, reaching 90/2 in their second innings when early stumps were taken on Day III because of rain.
KL Rahul (47 batting) again looked solid, with captain Gill (6 batting) also at the crease. Movement off the pitch from Brydon Carse helped England remove first-innings centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal early before skipper Ben Stokes's inswinger trapped a set Sai Sudharsan to give a catch to short mid-wicket.
Precisely, England have won most of the sessions in this first Test since stumps on Day I. Ollie Pope (106) couldn’t add much after reaching three figures late on Day II. But an immensely fortunate Harry Brook (99) — he was dropped twice — with assistance from keeper-batter Jamie Smith (40) and Chris Woakes (38), stretched England’s first-innings total to 465.
If not for Bumrah cleaning up both Woakes and Tongue in quick succession, India would have had to begin their second essay with a deficit.
Flattering to deceive
Prasidh Krishna gave India an early breakthrough in the third over of the day, dismissing Pope. That certainly was a much-needed gift for India, especially on a pitch having little on offer for the bowlers.
Brook and Stokes then put on 51 for the fifth wicket before India got an opening again when Mohammed Siraj shaped the ball just a little away for an edge off the England skipper's bat.
That presented India with another opportunity to gain the upper hand. But Siraj and Prasidh were again inconsistent and wayward with their bowling, conceding some easy runs to Brook and Smith during their partnership of 73.
A tribute
The two teams wore black armbands to pay their respect to former England pacer and first British-born Black cricketer David Lawrence, 61, who passed away on Sunday.
Lawrence, who played five Tests from 1988-92, had to end his career at 28 when he broke his knee-cap after falling when running in to bowl against New Zealand on the final day of a Test in Wellington.