Kohli, Rahane Hit Unbeaten 50's as India Reach 189/3 at Tea

Nottingham, Aug 18 (PTI) Skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane hit composed half-centuries as India reached 189 for 3 against England in a wicketless post-lunch session on the opening day of the third Test.

Kohli, who is playing with a bad back, was unbeaten on 51 off 91 balls while Rahane (53 batting) finally got some form back with a half-century coming after more than 12 months. This was Rahane's first half century in 14 innings.

The two senior batsmen added 107 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand as India enjoyed their best session across the three Test matches.

While Kohli's 18th half-century had six boundaries, Rahane hit seven in 96 balls completing his 13th half-ton in the process.

Ben Stokes (0/47 in 11 overs) and leg-spinner Adil Rashid (0/29 in 5 overs) gave away some easy runs while Chris Woakes (3/45 in 15 overs) got all the three wickets in the opening session.

Kohli-Rahane duo attacked Rashid, who bowled a lot of short deliveries and skipper Root had no option but to revert back to his frontline pacers.

The best part about the duo was their patience as they waited for the loose deliveries and were also willing to play square of the wicket rather than only looking to negate the swing with pronounced front-foot movement.

In fact Rahane got to his half century with a lovely square cut off Woakes.

Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan (35) and KL Rahul (23) provided India with their best start with a 60-run opening stand.

However both Dhawan and Rahul would rue the fact that they wasted a good opportunity having seen off the difficult first hour when Jimmy Anderson (0/33 in 15 overs) and Stuart Broad (0/23 in 10 overs) bowled a testing line.

However from 60 for no loss, India lost three wickets for 22 runs to be reduced to 82 for 3 at lunch.

Dhawan was once again gone trying to poke at an away going delivery while Rahul was trapped leg before by an incutter.

The most disappointing was Cheteshwar Pujara (14, 31 balls), who again did the hardwork before Woakes successfully led the short ball trap enticing him for a hook shot. Pujara went for it and was holed out at the long leg boundary at the stroke of lunch as the irritation on coach Ravi Shastri's face was clearly visible.

Dhawan, dropped after the Birmingham Test, opened the innings, initially showed more patience as he played 65 balls hitting seven boundaries in the process.

India's 50 came in the 17th over. After drinks break though, things changed as Woakes bowled a fuller length and started troubling the batsmen immediately.

Dhawan was caught at second slip by Buttler as he edged one off Woakes in the 19th over.

Two overs later, Rahul was trapped leg before as Woakes set him up beautifully. He bowled successive outswingers before bringing one back in. Rahul opted for DRS, but that didn't work in his favour either.

Things looked to be going smoothly despite these twin blows before Pujara's indiscretion cost India dearly.

India have made three changes with Dhawan coming in place of Murali Vijay, Jasprit Bumrah replacing Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant making his Test debut replacing veteran Dinesh Karthik. PTI CN

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