Pant run out at stroke of lunch as India close in on England’s total

LONDON: 141-run partnership with KL Rahul as India were 248-4 at the break on day three of the third test, trailing by 139 runs, after England posted 387 in the first innings.

Left-handed batter Pant, who scored twin centuries in the first of the five-test series, battled through an injury on a finger on his left hand as he hooked Stokes for six to bring up his fifty before he was run out for 74 in 112 balls.

Opener Rahul was steady on the other end as he closed in on his second hundred of the series, remaining not out at 98 at lunch, with both sides bidding to go 2-1 up in the series.

Pant hurt a finger on his left hand while wicket-keeping on Thursday. His injury appeared to have worsened on Friday when a ball from spinner Shoaib Bashir left him in pain.

Pant, who began the day punishing Jofra Archer for missing his line with a flick for four down the leg side, sought help from the physio twice as short balls hit his injured finger but continued, seeking to add quick runs after a slow start to the day.

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The 27-year-old hit Bashir for a six down the ground shortly before an awkward hook on Stokes almost got him caught near the fine leg boundary, where a diving Zak Crawley did well to lob the ball back inside the boundary, preventing a six.

Pant was run out in the very next over, trying to take a quick run as he loosely played Bashir towards cover point.