Three full days left in this Test match, no team has ever won
with a deficit this large.
India are absolutely up against it, thanks to England's top four,
who all passed fifty, and thanks especially to Joe Root, who extended
his magnificent run with a 121
of nimble footwork, dextrous hands, and non-stop activity.
A triumphant day for England, even if their lower middle order didn't quite pile
it on as they may have hoped, but they've moved into an utterly
dominant position nonetheless.
Root may break a record soon; he's tied with Ponting and Viv Richards for the most centuries vs India (eight of them). With England playing more test cricket than other teams, it seems inevitable that he will shatter this record soon.
Meanwhile, Kohli is in a massive slump. It's been like 50 innings since he's made a decent score.
Funny how, amongst the Fab Four batsmen of this era - Kohli, Smith, Kane and Root - 2 always seem to go down as the other 2 go up. Smith was banned from cricket for a year, and Kohli takes a slump, meanwhile Williamson is averaging in the high 60s over the past few years, and Root's hit more test tons this year then all other cricket nations combined.
18.6
Overton to Rahul, ohmygosh, that's a sensational grab! hasn't looked too
settled at the crease, and he gets a good ball straightening late with extra bounce, takes the shoulder of the bat and flies quickly where Bairstow dives to his left from second slip and plucks it one-handed in front of Root at first. It was going so quickly that the ball was behind Bairstow's body when he caught it
KL Rahul c Bairstow b Overton 8 (89m 54b 0x4 0x6) SR: 14.81
23 Centuries for Joe Root in Test cricket. Only Alastair Cook, with 33 tons, has more for England in the format. Root shares the second spot with Kevin Pietersen, who also scored 23 hundreds.