Vijay hits hundred as India march towards England's 400
By Sudipto Ganguly
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Opener Murali Vijay struck his eighth hundred as India made steady progress towards England's first-innings total of 400 on the third morning of the fourth test at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts, leading 2-0 in the five-match series, reached 247 for two in their first innings at lunch, still trailing England by 153 runs. Vijay was on 124 and captain Virat Kohli on 44 at the crease.
Resuming on 146 for one, the hosts suffered an early jolt when Cheteshwar Pujara (47) was bowled on the second ball of the morning while shouldering arms to paceman Jake Ball, ending a second-wicket partnership of 107 with Vijay.
However, it proved to be the only success for the English bowlers in the opening session as Vijay and Kohli flayed the attack during their brisk unbeaten stand of 101.
Vijay's technique against rising deliveries had been questioned in the run-up to the fourth test as the right-handed batsman had fallen three times to short-pitched balls from England's pacemen during the series.
The tourists' fast bowlers dished out a number of bouncers to him during the innings but Vijay, who was 70 overnight, swayed away from most of them while dropping his wrists.
He reached his second century of the series with a single against off-spinner Moeen Ali and has hit nine fours and three sixes in his knock so far.
Vijay was given out leg before to leg-spinner Adil Rashid on 116 but managed to overturn the decision on review as replays suggested he got an inside edge before ball struck pad.
The in-form Kohli took little time to get out of the blocks and hit three boundaries through third man at the start of his innings, making sure England could not build pressure after the early wicket of Pujara.
The India captain also completed a couple of personal landmarks during his innings, getting past 1,000 test runs for 2016 and 4,000 career runs in the longest format.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)