Cheteshwar Pujara will replay the moment in the first over after Tea, over and over again, and wonder: "why, why did I hit a rank long-hop to the only man out in the deep." Because it was that false shot that triggered a mini-India collapse and brought England right back into the game in this third Test match in Mohali.
Virat Kohli and Pujara were threatening to take the match away from England again by putting on a quality partnership, with the wicket showing no signs of life for the bowlers, but Adil Rashid picked up the crucial wicket of Pujara (51, 104b, 8x4), who pulled a short ball to Chris Woakes at deep midwicket – the fielder taking a stunning catch diving forward – to give England a slight way through.
That slight way turned into a smallish path when Ajinkya Rahane's (0, 6b) weakness against spin came to the fore, yet again, with the right-hander playing down the wrong line after failing to pick Rashid's googly.
Then it turned into a highway when Kohli has his "oh man what was I doing" moment, as the India captain got the debutant Karun Nair (4, 4b, 1x4) run out. After playing a ball to backward point, Kohli hopped forward for a single without looking at his non-striker, and with his eyes still on just the fielder, turned back. By that time Karun had already committed to the single and before he could get back to his crease, Jos Buttler, who had dived to stop the ball to create the initial confusion, threw down the stumps to inflict a brilliant run out and cruelly end the Karnataka batsman's debut innings, which had begun well with a boundary through the covers.
R Ashwin and Kohli put on a brief partnership of 48 – brief because it lasted only 10.1 overs, although in terms of runs it wasn't too far away from what Kohli and Pujara managed of 75 in 25.2 overs – before Ben Stokes, it had to be him, the man who was fined for a bit of verbals towards Kohli after the he got out on day one, got the big wicket.
Kohli (62, 127b, 9x4), who had been patient all day, leaving balls outside off, was suckered into a shot by Stokes and the thin edge was accepted by Jonny Bairstow. Stokes celebrated by making a point not to.
From 148/2 in 51 overs at Tea, India found themselves on 204/6, and suddenly the chance of the home team facing a deficit after the first innings, when at one point it was a matter of how much the lead would be rather than if, seemed real.
Ashwin (57, 82b, 8x4) and Ravindra Jadeja (31, 59b, 3x4, 1x6), due a big score in Tests, however, came together to put on another vital partnership of 67 runs to take India to stumps.
Earlier, India quickly got the two dismissals they needed to end England's innings, with Mohammed Shami picking up both the wickets. Adil Rashid (4, 25b) was caught behind in the second over of the day, before, a couple of overs later, Gareth Batty (1, 13b) was trapped in front by the outstanding India fast bowler.
Parthiv Patel and Murali Vijay (12, 38b, 2x4), India's latest opening partnership, batted nearly 15 overs together, before the latter was out caught behind off Stokes. Parthiv (42, 85b, 6x4) made a decent contribution with the bat, with the left-hander finally falling to Rashid, who got an lbw decision on review working in his favour.
Scores: First innings: England: 283 all out in 93.5 overs.
Overnight score: England: 268/8 in 90 overs.
India: 271/6 in 84 overs, trail by 12 runs.
Bowling: First innings: India: Mohammed Shami 21.5-5-63-3; Umesh Yadav 16-4-58-2; Jayant Yadav 15-5-49-2; R Ashwin 18-1-43-1; Ravindra Jadeja 23-4-59-2.
England: James Anderson 16-3-36-0; Chris Woakes 15-5-47-0; Moeen Ali 9-1-19-0; Adil Rashid 24-4-81-3; Ben Stokes 15-2-48-2; Gareth Batty 5-0-29-0.
Fall of wickets: First innings: England: 32/1, Haseeb Hameed (10 overs); 51/2, Joe Root (14.1 overs); 51/3, Alastair Cook (15.1 overs); 87/4, Moeen Ali (27.3 overs); 144/5, Ben Stokes (44 overs); 213/6, Jos Buttler (68.1 overs); 258/7, Jonny Bairstow (83.4 overs); 266/8, Chris Woakes (89 overs); 268/9, Adil Rashid (91.1 overs); 283/10, Gareth Batty (93.5 overs).
India: 39/1, Murali Vijay (14.4 overs); 73/2, Parthiv Patel (26 overs); 148/3, Cheteshwar Pujara (51.2 overs); 152/4, Ajinkya Rahane (53.2 overs); 156/5, Karun Nair (54.2 overs); 204/6, Virat Kohli (64.3 overs).
Watch the highlights of Day 2 HERE
