MATCH WELL POISED ON DAY 3

Very few would think that this match would end up giving result other than a dull draw,but in fact after watching the third day's play in Rajkot,I believe there is a strong possibility of either side winning the game.England would have been pleased after seeing the 22 yards before the start of first day's play.To add to that,winning the toss was a blessing in disguise for England Captain Alastair Cook.He chose to bat first which was no surprise.On a lighter note,I thought the pitch was prepared assuming that Virat Kohli will win the toss as he has in the past few games.England batsmen justified their captain's decision by piling on 311/4 after a magnificent attacking innings from Joe Root.He,with the help of Moeen Ali who stood not out on 99 at the end of the play and butterfingers of Indian slip cordon who dropped as many as 4 catches.On day 2,story was no different.This time Moeen Ali and eventually,Ben Stokes reaching the three figure mark with English batsmen putting on a mammoth total of 537 on the board.Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets with Ashwin,Shami and Umesh Yadav taking 2 each.Indian batsmen were on the crease for the last session of play.Murli Vijay and Gautam Gambhir played out the scheduled 23 overs without any difficulty.Both the openers started Day 3 cautiously but shortly Gautam Gambhir fell victim to Stuart Broad who trapped him plumb in front of the wickets.It was time for local boy Cheteshwar Pujara to take the centrestage as he and Murli Vijay both reached centuries without any difficulty.Pujara was as fluent as ever except for the 3 short bowls which hit his helmet.They both fell at the end of the day's play with Indian skipper Virat Kohli on the crease and India 319/4,still trailing England by 218 runs.England's Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes bowled well but Chris Woakes was the best of the lot without any success.

        I heard the pitch curator saying before the match that Pujara could score 300 on the first 2 days and on the same pitch,Jadeja could roll his arm over and pick up a five-for on day 5.This statement should give us a fair idea of the deterioration of the pitch.With hot sunshine heating up the pitch,cracks will open up due to which some balls will spin,some will bounce or some may even shoot and roll along the carpet.If India can get a lead of over 100 at the end of day 4,England would be under pressure with Ashwin looking to remind England of their worst nightmares.However if England can hold on to the advantage to bowl India out with a lead of over 150 and get some quick runs to put India in again on Day 5.If it happens,England will fancy their chances because of the variety they have got in their bowling attack.

       So it will be an interesting test match with Day 4 being the judgement day giving us a fair idea of which way the match is heading.