Key Points

On the third ball of the 66th over, Pant defended to the off-side off Shoaib Bashir and Stokes at cover point picked the ball and threw it towards the non-striker's end – all in one motion. With some hesitation from Pant to go for a run, the direct hit did catch him short of his crease, leading to him being dismissed for 74.

"It was phenomenal from Stokes. He understood Pant could be the man in danger in the spur of the moment, and he spun around and hit the stumps. That was fantastic cricket. Great presence of mind."

"There is an opening now for England to come back and regroup. If India had not lost a wicket in that session you go in and shoulders are down. There is some encouragement now to come back out refreshed and see if they can make further inroads. Rahul's job is to keep batting on," said Shastri on Sky Sports’ broadcast.

Mel Jones, the former Australia women’s cricketer, was also in praise of Stokes pulling off that moment of brilliance. "That was Stokes at his absolute best - his mind was on how to break this partnership. He can put all that aside and be in the moment to do something like that. That is why he is one of the best leaders around."

With England having an opening to capitalise on in the post-lunch session, Mel opined on who should take the ball first for the hosts’. "For me, you are now into the all-rounders. This is the time you have to step in. I always tend to think Stokes can do something with the ball, and if you give Archer a spell, see how the pitch responds and go from there."

A ball change issue cropped up again in the first session, which has been a recurring theme so far in the series and Shastri was left unimpressed by it. "It is not right - but you cannot play Test cricket on pitches like this, you are going to take the crowds away. You need some pace in the surface."

"But you also need a good ball. If you have a good ball and a pitch that has something in it then that makes for interesting cricket. These delays are not good enough," he concluded.

- IANS