Shami strikes to leave England 89-4 at lunch

Shami bowled a fine spell, taking 2 for 27 as India put in a hard grind with the ball after they were dismissed for 107 in their first innings yesterday.

At the break, Jonny Bairstow was unbeaten on 4, following the dismissal of skipper Joe Root at the stroke of lunch.

After rain washed out the opening day and affected the proceedings on the second day, conditions changed drastically today as the sun came out with not a hint of rain around.

Moisture, both in the air and on the surface, dried up quickly as batting seemed a lot easier.

Even so, the ball continued to do something as Ishant Sharma (1-26) and Shami began proceedings for the day.

They took a couple overs to find the proper line and length to bowl at the two left-handed opening batsmen.

Shami troubled the batsmen more in this opening spell, with Sharma finding more impact as he changed lines to come around the wicket.

The breakthrough came in the eighth over as Shami trapped Keaton Jennings (11) lbw, with England losing a pointless review.

It became a double blow as five balls later Alastair Cook (21) was caught behind off Sharma and the hosts were reduced to 32-2.

Joe Root (19) and 20-year-old debutante Oliver Pope (28) then added 45 runs for the third wicket.

Some shoddy bowling from Kuldeep Yadav (0-15) and an ordinary first spell from Hardik Pandya (1-15) helped the batting duo, as the score crossed 50 in the 14th over.

Surprisingly, R Ashwin didn't get to bowl in this first session. But after skipper Virat Kohli had a chat with Pandya, he tightened up his line to the batsmen and became much more effective.

He then went on to trap Pope lbw in the 22nd over, as England lost their second review as well.

The big blow of the morning came at the stroke of lunch when Shami returned to pick up Root, trapping him lbw.

There were no reviews left, but England's most important batsman was out plumb anyway as India roared back into contention.

Yesterday, England pacer James Anderson picked 5 for 20 after weather cleared up on day two as India were bowled out for 107 runs in 35.2 overs.

England lead the five-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Birmingham by 31 runs.