India came into the match high on confidence, they were already 1-0 in the series, most of their players were in good form and they looked good to go 2-0 up. Their chances of doing that went up a notch when MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first on a good track that offered bounce for the pacers and turn for the slower bowlers.
India were forced to make one change with Umesh Yadav missing out due to injury and Dhoni sprung a surprise by including a third spinner, Harbhajan Singh, in his place. England too were forced to make changes with Jonny Bairstow coming in for Ian Bell and Monty Panesar replacing Tim Bresnan.
England ensured that they cashed in on what was on offer from the track as they had India in trouble in the first session. Jimmy Anderson made sure Gautam Gambhir's woeful run of form continued as he trapped the left-hander plumb in front off the 2nd ball of the day. Virender Sehwag was uncharacteristically sedate but still kept the run-rate steady. He chose to put pressure on Monty Panesar as he greeted him with 2 fours in his first over. India did well to keep England at bay and put their innings back on track with a fifty run stand between the Delhi batsman and Cheteshwar Pujara. Panesar however came into his own soon, showing why it was a mistake not to pick him in the last test as he had Sehwag and then Sachin Tendulkar out bowled in quick succession. Sehwag missed a full ball to find his off stump uprooted while Sachin was castled by an absolute beauty, which turned from leg-stump to hit the top of off.
Pujara at the other end continued without being troubled much. The right-hander looked untroubled for the major part of his knock as he and Virat Kohli tried to steady the ship. The pitch started to show its true colours as the day wore on as Graeme Swann and Panesar started to extract a lot more turn and bounce to consistently trouble the batsmen. Panesar was soon rewarded for his hardwork as an uppish drive from Kohli found Nick Compton at short extra cover. Swann then needed just 1 ball to send back left-hander Yuvraj Singh for a duck to leave India in a spot of bother.
Pujara looked as solid as ever as he brought up his fifty and with skipper MS Dhoni for company helped India stage a fightback and get to Tea at a relatively safe position.
England however pegged India back immediately after Tea, with that man, Monty Panesar again popping up to claim the vital wicket of MS Dhoni. The Indian skipper lunged forward to a good length delivery and edged it to 2nd slip where Swann held on to a good low catch. Luckily for India, Pujara found an able partner in R Ashwin, who has showed so far that he is a good bet with the bat, to help India past the 200 run mark and himself into the nineties.
Ashwin adopted a more attacking approach hitting Stuart Broad for 2 consecutive boundaries before stepping out to hit Panesar through mid-wicket. Pujara survived a close call when a pull shot hit the man at short leg and lobbed to mid-wicket, but the umpires ruled not-out after replays suggested that the ball had bounced centimeters before hitting Cook at short-leg. Pujara offered no other chances after that as he went on to reach a fantastic century, his 3rd in Tests. It was a fantastic effort from the batsman who is gaining in confidence and looks likely to cement the No. 3 spot for sometime to come.
The top-order batsman reaching his landmark also seemed to boost Ashwin as the offie smashed 3 fours off an Anderson over before getting to his fifty. Ashwin's counter-attacking knock provided just the kind of support Pujara and India needed as the stand kept England from celebrating again while also helping India add vital runs to their total.
The duo continued to hold fort till stumps and India ended the day in a relatively safe position at 266/6.
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