Relentless Kohli takes India to a commanding position

It was Virat Kohli's day all the way as he hit his 15th Test Century to help India take a lead of 51 runs.

India suffered an early loss of wicket when debutant Jake Ball dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara(47) on the second ball of the day. Pujara misjudged the line as he left the ball and it came straight onto his stumps kissing his thigh pad.

In came the skipper, who knew the importance of his wicket and also the criticality of the situation.

Starting slowly and steadily, he build a partnership with Murali Vijay. Vijay was already settled on the crease as he continued his innings from yesterday.
He gave good support to the skipper and just played his basic game.

Vijay got his reward as he reached yet another century. It was his 2nd century in this series. Vijay was given out LBW when he was on 116 but he successfully reviewed the decision as the ball hit bat and then pad.

India ended the first session on top as they scored 101 runs and lost just one wicket. They didn't let England take hold of the game.

The second session was dominated by England as they scalped 4 wickets and kept India under some pressure. Their only worry was Virat Kohli as the swashbuckler was still present in the middle. 

Kohli and Vijay had a 116 run stand for the 3rd wicket before Vijay got a bit casual and hit the ball straight into the hands of Adil Rashid. Rashid fumbled first but successfully grabbed it the second time.

Karun Nair(13) once again failed as he got LBW on a Moeen Ali delivery. The decision was initially not out but England reviewed the decision successfully.

The highlight of the second session, though, was Joe Root.

Root showed he has got golden arm as he picked up two wickets in successive overs.

First one to go was Parthiv Patel(15), who edged the ball as it went up in the air only to be taken by Jonny Bairstow. Next was R. Ashwin(0), he was stunned when he got out on short leg.

Debutant Keaton Jennings took the catch.

India came under a bit of pressure as they were still 95 runs behind England. 

But Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli played sensibly and made sure India didn't lose another wicket. 

However Virat Kohli got dropped on 68 when he hit the ball straight but Adil Rashid failed to grab it in his hands.

India scored 101 runs again but lost 4 wickets in this session.

In the last session of the day, India came out strong as they lost just one wicket in the face of Ravindra Jadeja(25). Jadeja tried to hit the ball long but an abrupt bounce in the dust makde him mishit the shot and got caught by Jos Buttler.

Virat Kohli stood tall and went on to complete his 15th Test Century after he took a single of a miss field. It's Kohli's 8th century as captain and it just showed how well he handles pressure. 

It was a treat to watch as he hit shots all over the ground and delighted the 20,000 audience in the stadium and millions on the TV. 

Kohli played some brilliant shots after the century and looked classier than ever.
Jayant Yadav gave good support to the captain as he hung in the middle. He also contributed some valuable runs lately once he settled himself.

Virat(147*) and Jayant(30*) helped India reach 451/7 at the end of the day's play.

India summed up the day on top. 

Stat Attack -

• Virat Kohli completed 1000 runs in tests in 2016.
• He also goes past 4000 runs in Test Career and becomes 14th Indian batsman to do so.
• Kohli has now 8 centuries as captain only 3 behind leader Sunil Gavaskar, who hit 11 centuries as captain of Indian team.

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