India showed why they are almost unbeatable in home conditions with a brilliant all-round performance in the 3rd Test at Mohali. This was Kohli’s 12th win as skipper in 20 Tests. India have now been unbeaten in 16 Tests under Kohli and are now just 2 Tests short of the all-time Indian record of 18 under Sunil Gavaskar’s captaincy. The team is gelling as a unit and seem to have the confidence to get themselves out of tough situations. They have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Test series. Here is the complete Match report.

Alastair Cook won a crucial toss and elected to bat. They enjoyed some early luck when India dropped a couple of catches. Cook was the lucky recipient on both occasions. Ravindra Jadeja in the slips, failed to get his hands to an edge of the bowling of Mohammed Shami. Cook was again reprieved when Ravichandran Ashwin dropped a sitter at mid-wicket off the same bowler. Just prior to that Haseeb Hameed got an unplayable delivery from Umesh Yadav that bounced a lot and Rahane took an easy catch at gully.

Cook tried to cut a delivery from Ashwin and Parthiv Patel took a good catch behind the wickets. There was a sudden collapse as England lost wickets in quick succession and were reeling at 87/4. Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow began the job of rebuilding the innings before Stokes charged down the wicket to Jadeja and Parthiv pulled off an excellent stumping.

Jos Buttler was brought into the playing XI, instead of Ben Duckett and he showed why it was a good move by putting a price on his wicket. He took his time to settle in but soon showed why he is regarded as such a destructive batsman by playing some fine shots. He was deceived in flight by Jadeja and Kohli pulled off an excellent catch at silly mid-off. Buttler scored 43 off 80 balls, studded with 5 fours.

Jonny Bairstow was dismissed by a sharp spinning off- break from Jayant Yadav. Apart from Hameed and Bairstow, all the batsmen were guilty of throwing away their wickets to irresponsible shots and England ended the first day on 268/8. On the second morning Shami produced an unplayable delivery to get rid of Adil Rashid and Parthiv took another catch behind the stumps. England were all out for 283 which was a paltry total considering the state of the pitch. Jadeja took 2 wickets conceding just 59 runs.

Parthiv Patel opened the innings for India and played some fine shots. He scored 42 before he was adjudged LBW to Rashid. Pujara and Kohli continued their good form in the series and India were coasting at 148/2. Pujara pulled a short delivery from Rashid and Chris Woakes pulled off a brilliant catch at deep mid-wicket. India were soon reduced to 156/5 when Kohli called the debutant Karun Nair for a single and then sent him back. Jos Buttler fielded the ball and threw at the stumps down at the non-striker’s end to catch Nair short of the crease.

Kohli was soon dismissed when he tried to glide Stokes to third man and was caught by Bairstow. Ashwin and Jadeja showed why lower order batting is so important in Test cricket by counterattacking and getting India close to England’s score. Ashwin played some breath-taking strokes with a lot of elegance and India took a first innings lead with 4 wickets still in hand. Ashwin was dismissed when he drove Stokes away from his body and Buttler took another good catch at point. Jadeja scored 90 before he was caught by Woakes off the bowling of Rashid. Jayant Yadav also scored a valuable 55. This was the first time that the number 7, 8 and 9 batsmen for India all scored fifties. Stokes had figures of 5/73 and Rashid took 4 wickets conceding 118 runs. India had a healthy lead of 134 due to sizable contributions from their lower order.

Joe Root walked out to open the batting with Alastair Cook in the 2nd innings as Hameed had still not recovered from his injury. England suffered an early setback as Cook was bowled by a delivery from Ashwin that went straight through. At this stage the pitch had started to assist the spinners. India’s spinners were getting a lot more out of the pitch than their English counterparts.

Ashwin and Jadeja were relentless and exerted considerable pressure on the English batsmen. Jayant Yadav got the wicket of Bairstow with one that skidded through and Parthiv pulled off another terrific catch behind the stumps. England ended the day at 78/4 and needed a further 56 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

On the 4th morning, Jadeja struck in the 2nd over of the day getting Batty LBW. If England had any hopes of setting India a decent target, they needed Buttler to play a quick fire innings. He hit Jadeja for an effortless 6 over long off. However, he soon perished for 18 when he tried to hit Jayant Yadav out of the ground and Jadeja took a well-judged catch at deep mid-wicket. Root was playing well at the other end and Hameed was giving him adequate support. A few minutes before lunch, Rahane took a brilliant one handed reflex catch to dismiss Root of Jadeja’s bowling.

Shami was in the middle of a hostile spell with the second new ball and he bowled a well-directed bouncer to Chris Woakes who could only fend it to Parthiv for a simple catch. India bowled England out for 234 and needed 103 for victory. Jadeja once again bowled economically and had figures of 2/62.

India lost the wicket of Murali Vijay early but an aggressive unbeaten 67 in just 54 balls by Parthiv Patel meant that they won in a canter by 8 wickets. Jadeja was named the Man of the Match for his all-round performance.

The 4th Test starts in Mumbai on the 8th of December.