• Kohli stamps his class on series

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    Virat Kohli is heading for the record books as England face defeat.

    In another life Kohli might well have been an accountant, such was the precision with which he is scoring his runs technically as well as numerically against England. In the first Test, he scored 149 and 51, for a total of 200 runs, followed by 23 and 17 for 40 at Lord’s. At Trent Bridge his excellent first innings 97 was followed by a quality Test innings of 103 ― to take his match total to 200 runs on the dot for the second time in the series, surely the only time this has ever been achieved in Test cricket.

    The day was dominated by a solid partnership of 113 between Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli as the batsmen took their time and showed respect to the bowlers ― as should be the case in Test cricket. Despite their sizable first innings lead, the two batsmen left nothing to chance, using the better part of the day to build two quality Test innings and, at the same time, grind the England bowlers into the ground, along with their team’s spirit.

    That is the essence of Test cricket, as it is a test of endurance and mental strength as much as cricketing prowess.

    Ben Stokes had Pujara caught by Alastair Cook at slip after a well-played 72 off 208 balls. It was not the sort of innings that would appeal to those brought up on white ball fever, but it was enthralling to watch him chip away, push and prod singles and stroke anything loose to the boundary. It was a far from flawless innings but it was a great example of how to take advantage of a match situation and get much-needed runs under your belt. It’s a lesson that young cricketers (as well as many seasoned professionals) would do well to heed.

    Kohli was equally studious in defence, not afraid to dead-bat the good deliveries, but was quick to pounce on anything he felt he could score from ― which is the hallmark of positive Test cricket. Kohli reached his 23rd Test century before Chris Woakes trapped him leg before for 103 off 197 balls, with 10 fours.

    While Steve Smith peddles his wares in white ball land, Kohli has surely leaped back up ahead of the former Aussie skipper to be deservedly the world’s number-one ranked Test batsmen.

    Ajinkya Rahane (29 off 94 balls) provided slow but steady support to first Kohli and then Hardik Pandya, the latter racing to a well-deserved half-century at a run a ball, before the skipper called his batsmen in to allow his bowlers nine overs to test the resolve of the England openers.

    Stokes picked up 2-68 during the Indian innings (although he showed signs of a niggling leg injury at the end of the innings), while Adil Rashid returned 3-101 after a long day’s work was rewarded with a couple of wickets as the lower-order pushed for the declaration.

    Cook and Keaton Jennings survived through to the end of the day to finish on 23 without loss and now face the prospect of two long (but no doubt enthralling) days of Test match cricket ahead of them.

    In the 14th over of the day England suffered a bitter blow when Jonny Bairstow mistimed a gather from a swinging ball from Jimmy Anderson, the ball caught him on the tip of his left middle finger, resulting in x-rays which revealed a small fracture to his fingers. Jos Buttler took the gloves for the rest of the innings but didn’t take any catches. Bairstow’s injury could spell real trouble for England’s hopes of winning this match, and those are their only hopes because if they survive two days at the crease they will win the match. There will be no drawing of this contest… unless bad weather comes to England’s rescue.

    With Bairstow either absent from the innings, or batting under severe discomfort, it will surely raise the level of the mountain which England face over the next two days.

    STAT CHECK

    Kohli is six runs short of 6,000 Test runs (5994, ave 54.49) after recording his 23rd Test match century in the second innings, while his 97 in the first innings was his 18th half-century in Tests. Kohli has scored more than twice the number of runs (440, ave 73.33) as the next most prolific batsman in the series, Bairstow (206, ave 51.50), and almost three times as many runs as the third-highest runscorer, his teammate Pandya (160, ave 32.00).

    Scorecard

    Photo: Philip Brown/Getty Images

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    Simon Lewis