Vijay celebrates after scoring his seventh Test century

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara both scored hundreds to cap off a highly successful day for India, while England, on the other hand, were made to toil in Rajkot and were only rewarded with four wickets.

For Vijay, his century couldn’t have come at a better time as he had failed to reach the triple-figure mark in his last 16 innings. Prior to this match, the 32-year-old’s last Test hundred was the 150 he scored against Bangladesh in June 2015.

Starting off the day on 63/0, Vijay and Gautam Gambhir were only able to add five runs to the score before Gambhir was given out lbw off the bowling of Stuart Broad, who is playing in his 100th Test, for 29.

That was to be England’s last taste of success for a lengthy period of time as Vijay and Pujara frustrated the tourists with a 209-run stand, during which they both brought up their centuries.

With things getting out of hand for England, they desperately needed a breakthrough, and it wasn’t until the final session of the day that their wish was granted.

Pujara was the batsman whose time at the crease came to an end as he was dismissed by Ben Stokes for 124 off 206 balls, which included 17 boundaries.

Pujara is all smiles after bringing up his ninth Test hundred

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Vijay, who needed treatment throughout his innings after being struck on the knee by Chris Woakes, went on to score 126 off 301 deliveries, which included nine boundaries and four sixes, before he was sent packing by Adil Rashid.

Just four balls later, England got another wicket as nightwatchman Amit Mishra was removed by Zafar Ansari for a duck.

As soon as Mishra was on his way back to the pavilion, stumps was called, leaving captain Virat Kohli unbeaten of 26 off 70 balls, which included three boundaries.

Broad, Stokes, Rashid and Ansari picked up one wicket apiece.

India ended day three on 319/4 and will continue batting on Saturday at 09:30 local time or 04:00 GMT.