On the third day of the fourth Test match of ongoing series between India and England, viewers witness another intriguing day as the hosts marginally gained advantage. At the end of the third day’s game, England were at 260 for 8, taking a lead of 233 runs with two full days left in the game.

Though Indian pacers were able to dismantle England’s upper order early in the day, they had to work hard to get rid of India’s lower middle order. The combination of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah shared seven wickets among them. However, the first session of the fourth day is going to be crucial as how quickly India dismiss the English tail is going to be very important with two more days to left.

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Wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler once again rescued England after their upper order was a flop once again.

The fourth match of the five-match series is being played at Rose Bowl, Southampton. England have taken a lead of 2-1 in the series and if Virat-led India aim to be in the contest of winning this series, they need to win this match.

Here are the five talking points from Day 3:

Alastair Cook: What’s going on?

Alastair Cook is among one of the greatest Test players to have donned the white jersey for England. However, his form lately has become a major headache for Joe Root-led side.

Unless Cook is able to turn around his fate dramatically by playing a dominant and crucial innings at The Oval, his flop show in the ongoing series is going to be the most talked about issue in England camp.

Alastair Cook on Saturday once again disappointed his fans as he was removed at 17 runs by Jasprit Bumrah.

Joe Root’s frustrating day

Before the start of the fourth Test match, there were talks among cricket fans and experts that Joe Root should bat at number four as many modern cricket great bat at this slot. Be it Indian captain Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson or trouble Australian cricketer Steve Smith — all of these players bats at number four to give their middle order stability.

On the third day of the fourth Test, Joe Root came to play at number four and he even played a decent inning for his side. Joe Root scored 48 runs for England and stabilise hosts innings after they lost two early wickets.

However, Joe Root fell two runs short to his 42nd half-century. Joe Root was run-out by Mohammed Shami just like in the first Test match. And there is nothing more frustrating in Test cricket than getting removed from the crease for a runout.

Jos Buttler: England’s knight in shining armour

England’s wicket-keeper batsman Joe Buttler earned a Test call after he had a stellar campaign in Indian Premier League 2018 while playing for Rajasthan Royals and since then it was widely debated whether it was a right decision.

However, with the way he batted and rescued England’s in the third Test from a follow-on in first innings and then followed it up with his maiden Test century is anything to say, it seems the English selection committee made a right decision.

In the fourth Test match, Jos Buttler once again came to England’s rescue and scored 69, when his team needed him the most. Jos Buttler’s innings can be proved to be absolutely vital for England in the upcoming days as it ensured they took a lead which has now put them marginally ahead in the game.

India’s fast bowlers shine again

There was a time when it used to be discussed that Indian cricket team is too reliant on their batsman and they can never produce world-class fast bowlers. But with the way Indian pacers impressed the audience in the South Africa series and now they are following it up in England series is anything to say then it seems India have one of the most lethal pace attacks in world cricket today.

On Saturday, Indian Pacers (Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah) once again dismantle England’s upper batting order by sharing seven wickets among each-other. Indian speedsters were terrific on the third day, bowling long spells on a pitch with not much help for them.

R Ashwin disappoints

India’s spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin is among one of the few consistent performers in the ongoing five-match Test series. However, on the third day, R Ashwin was disappointing with the ball. R Ashwin’s performance was below-par. Ashwin bagged only one wicket and gave away 78 runs in 35 overs.

R Aswin is also facing criticism because his counterpart Moeen Ali was exceptionally well with the ball on the second day as he claimed five-wickets on Friday.