India v England: first Test, day three – live

Day three. They call it a moving day. A day when the game’s fate coalesces into view through the haze and everything that came before starts to make sense.

England will need this one to move in a markedly different direction from the course it has taken so far. A whopping 175 runs behind and staring a chastening entry into this five Test series, the good news is that it can’t get much worse than this.

The decision to selection three spinners – two of them rookies – has backfired. Especially with Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed haemorrhaging runs at 5.24 and 4.56 runs an over respectively. Joe Root has looked good though, bowling with a mix of control and penetration. I’d expect the former skipper to play the leading role with the ball this morning.

Of course, it’s not just English inadequacy that has brought us here. India have been imperious. First with the ball to bundle their guests out for 246 – a score that many tried to pass off as about par – and then with the bat as a trio of 80-plus scores has taken them to 421-7.

One of those octogenarian knocks belongs to Ravindra Jadeja who will resume not-out on 81. With a batting average of 35.94 and a bowling average of 24.07, while also being an absolute gun fielder, he is firmly entrenched as one of great all-rounders of the modern era.

Alongside him is Axar Patel who closed yesterday’s play by spanking Hartley for a four, then a six and then another four to head to the shed on 35.

This partnership of 63 has likely taken the contest beyond England’s reach. But if Ben Stokes’ boys can go bang-bang-bang, and get some scores of their own, well, this is a side that has made a habit of procuring remarkable wins.

Play gets going at 4:30am UK time/10am in India. I’m going to dash and brew a much needed cup of coffee and will be back shortly with some build-up bits and bobs.