Gill pushes Test into Bazball court

The India No.3 helps set an improbable target of 399 for England to win Test. The visitors are 67/1 at stumps on Day 3 

- Somshuvra Laha

History tells us that plotting to chase 399 in India is outrageous. In the Bazball era though, take nothing for granted. Yes, the highest successful fourth innings chase in India till date is 387. And even for this generational England team, 378 against India at Edgbaston, 2022 is as far as they have been stretched. But the gusto with which they came out swinging-cutting, punching, sweeping, reversing, driving, trying pretty much every shot in the book, shows England are itching to rewrite history.

Eleven boundaries and a six in 67/1 are ominous figures. More indicative of England's winning mentality is sending Rehan Ahmed as nightwatchman ahead of No.3 Ollie Pope, a scarcely acceptable tactic from a bunch supposedly bent on entertaining. They are not. England want to win at any cost, and probably that's why this feels like a break from the past. Which only makes this fourth innings chase an even more absorbing contest in the making, despite KS Bharat's timely twist by throwing himself full length and sensationally plucking Ben Duckett's catch inches from the ground.

That England still need 332 runs to win is thanks largely to a third Test hundred by Shubman Gill, who hadn't scored a fifty in 13 innings before this. It was far from an assured innings, but on a day India were not at their best on a pitch which offered lesser turn than Hyderabad, they would have taken it anyway.