Opener Murali Vijay scored a well-compiled fifty to anchor the Indian innings, after Liam Plunkett's double blow on the third day, as the visitors remained on course of setting a challenging target for England in the second Test at the Lord's Cricket Ground on Saturday.
India finished the third day on 169 for four and took 145 runs lead over the hosts, with Vijay (59 not out) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (12 not out) on the crease. They made a 45-run stand for the fifth wicket and helped the team recover from quick blows given by the English seamers.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who fell on the final session of the day, said with two set batsmen on the crease and Ravindra Jadeja and Stuart Binny to follow, the touring party is aiming to set a target of more than 300 runs to England.
"We are looking at 350 if we can," Pujara said. "First thing is first, the first target is 300. If we can bat well and get somewhere around 350, it will be a very good total to defend."
"We can't think of what target we want. What we can focus on is to bat well. Vijay and MS (Dhoni) are batting really well at the moment."
Opener Shikhar Dhawan (31) again failed to capitalise on a good start and fell after making a 40-run stand for the first wicket. Pujara and Vijay rebuilt the innings and stitched a 78-run partnership for the second wicket.
India were firmly poised at 118 for one at one stage, but Plunkett, who was struggling earlier in the match due to a tight hamstring, produced a magical spell of pace bowling to dismiss Pujara (43) and Virat Kohli (0) on successive deliveries.
Plunkett was rewarded for hitting the right areas when Pujara edged one to Matt Prior, while defending outside the off stump. Kohli was the next to go when he left the in-swinger that hit the top of the off stump.
"I changed my length. I obviously got my lengths wrong in first innings," Plunkett said. "But I'm quite an aggressive bowler. That's how I've got myself back in the England team - by being aggressive - and I got my wickets at Headingley by being aggressive, with some short stuff on a wicket that nipped around early as well."
"I didn't want to take my aggression away from myself.... (because) I'll end up bowling 80mph swingers with nothing on it," he added. "So it's just judging the right line and length to bowl. I got it wrong first innings, adjusted and felt a lot better."
India were rocked again, when first innings century maker Ajinkya Rahane (5) was dismissed by Stuart Broad, when a sprinting Prior took a good catch in the leg-side. Rahane was unlucky to be given out by umpire Bruce Oxenford as the delivery had hit him on the armguard.
The visitors were reeling at 123 for four, following the dismissal of Rahane, but Vijay and Dhoni played through the remaining overs without any further hiccups.
Where to Watch Live
The match is scheduled for a 3:30 pm IST (11 am local time, 6 am ET) start with live coverage on the Star Sports (Star Sports 1, 3 and HD1) network in India. The match is also available for live streaming online in India via Starsports.com. Viewers in England can watch the match on Sky Sports 2, with the live streaming option available HERE or HERE. US viewers can catch the action on ESPN 3, while the match can also be live streamed HERE.
