Kumar finds positives after tough day

bhuvneshwarkumar

After only taking two wickets on the first day of the third Test, India were subjected to more punishment on Monday as Gary Ballance (156), Ian Bell (167) and Jos Buttler (85) all plundered runs for the hosts.

Kumar did remove Bell, Joe Root (3) and Moeen Ali (12) to finish with figures of 3-101 but, having batted for the majority of the day, England added 322 runs to their overnight total before Alastair Cook declared on 569-7.

Although some of India's bowling was too short of a length and easy for the batsman to attack, Kumar felt his team-mates had done well in conditions that gave little assistance to the bowlers.

"When the ball was new it was happening a bit, but when the ball gets old, and the wicket was a bit slow, so the ball was not really going off the wicket so yes it was hard work for the bowlers," Kumar told Sky Sports.

"You have to be (patient) because there was not much in the wicket so you have to bowl very patiently, that's what we did in the last two sessions to keep them quiet.

"Test cricket is all about character, you are tired, we had to show our character in how we were going to bowl.

"When they were over 450 we knew they would come hard, and we knew we had to stop them. We tried to pack one side and curtail them. 

"If we can bat for one and half or two days, we still have a chance"

The long day ended in more disappointment after India lost Shikhar Dhawan for six in the seventh over before they finished 25-1, a daunting 544 runs behind.

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