Anything around 250 will be a good target for us to aim at – Cheteshwar Pujara

Virat Kohli (22) and Ravindra Jadeja (9), who was again sent in up the order, held firm and put on 33 for the fourth wicket until bad light forced England to bowl the only spin or go off.

After an over each of Joe Root and Ali, Root had enough and put the ball in the hands of Woakes, a seamer. That automatically resulted in the players walking off the field with about an hour left to play, just as things were building to a crescendo.

They didn’t return.

India has the edge but a couple of early wickets on the fourth day will change that.

“Anything around 250 will be a good target for us to aim at,” said Pujara, who batted for much of his innings with a sore left ankle after rolling it while turning at the non-striker’s end.

The series is locked at 1-1 with one more test to come, at Old Trafford starting next week.

It couldn’t be closer.

Much of that is down to Sharma, who shared an 83-run stand with KL Rahul and then easily the biggest partnership of the match with Pujara.

A couple of highlights of Sharma’s eighth test century was a textbook straight drive for four in the morning, and a paddle-sweep to the boundary after lunch.

“He has been batting well throughout the series and it was time he converted the fifties into a big one,” Pujara said. “It was a pleasure to watch from the non-striker’s end.”

Sharma was, though, dropped early on day three by Rory Burns, who got a hand to an edge off Woakes when diving to his right at second slip but couldn’t hold it. Burns had also squandered a chance off Sharma in the cordon late Friday, not even getting a hand to the ball on that occasion because the sun was in his eyes.

The only wicket to fall before lunch was Rahul, who tickled an edge behind off Jimmy Anderson for 46. The umpire didn’t give him out despite England’s appeals, but Root reviewed and UltraEdge showed a small spike.

Rahul shook his head as he walked off the field, not believing he got a touch.