With the help of skipper Virat Kohli’s brilliant century and Cheteshwar Pujara & Hardik Pandya’s half-centuries, the visitors India set a massive 521-run target for the hosts England’s victory who has replied 23/0 at the end of the third Test of the ongoing five-match Test series at Trent Bridge (Nottingham).

India began the day three on their overnight score 124/2 and both the unbeaten overnight batsmen Virat Kohli (8*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (33*) completed their half-centuries before the lunch break.

After producing a brilliant 113-run partnership for the third wicket, Cheteshwar Pujara lost his wicket on 72 runs (208 balls; 9 fours). On the other hand, skipper Kohli was chasing towards a deserving century and completed it this time.

However, soon after that, Kohli lost his wicket on 103 runs, followed by the debutant wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant on just 1 run.

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While the vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane scored 29 runs, all-rounder Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 52 runs off 52 balls. Indian skipper Virat Kohli declared the innings on 352/7 as England had to chase the record 521 runs target to win the game.

Among the English bowlers, leg-spinner Adil Rashid (3/101) picked up three wickets and Ben Stokes (2/68) got two wickets while James Anderson (1/55) and Chris Woakes (1/49) took one wicket each.

Chasing down the big target, England was batting on 23/0 at the end of the day three as the openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings were not out on 9 and 13 respectively. England still requires 498 runs to win this game and secure the series by leading 3-0.

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Some important stats of day 3 of the Trent Bridge Test between England and India

• Indian skipper Virat Kohli scored 103 runs in the second innings. Kohli becomes the first Test captain to score a century at Trent Bridge (Nottingham). The previous record was 99 by the former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly in 2002.
• It was the ninth away Test century for Virat Kohli as the Indian skipper. It was the joint second most number of away Test centuries as a captain (former West Indies captain Clive Llyod also had 9 away Test centuries). The record holder is former South African skipper Graeme Smith with 15 away Test centuries.
• It was the second century in this Test series for the Indian skipper Virat Kohli. In their 2014/15 away Test series against Australia in Australia, Kohli scored three centuries. He became the first Indian captain to score multiple centuries in more than one away Test series.
• Indian skipper Virat Kohli has scored 440 runs in this Test series. He becomes the most runs scorer as an Indian captain in a Test series on the English soil. The previous record was scoring 426 runs by the former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin during India’s tour of England in 1990.
• After scalping a five-wicket haul (5/28) in England’s first innings, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was not out on 52 runs off 52 balls during India’s second innings. Pandya becomes the fifth Indian cricketer to play at least one 50+ knock in an innings and also to take at least one five-wicket haul in an innings of the same Test match on the English soil. The previous four Indian cricketers to achieve this feat were – Lala Amarnath, Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (twice).
• Indian skipper Virat Kohli declared India’s second innings on 352/7. India has never won a Test match on the English soil when they have scored 350+ totals in the second innings. In fact, India has won only one Test match against England in overall when they have scored 350+ totals in the second innings and that was during their epic chasing 387 runs (387/4) at Chennai Test match in 2008.
• India put a 521-run target to win in front of the hosts England. It is the highest winning target has been set by India for England in a Test match. The previous record target was 500 run at The Oval in 2007 which resulted in a draw.