London, Sep 4 (IANS): Opener Rohit Sharma's maiden overseas century and his important partnerships with Cheteshwar Pujara and K.L. Rahul helped India wrest initiative and move into driver's seat on the third day of the fourth Test against England at The Oval on Saturday.

Sharma, who had scored seven Test centuries before and all of which came in India, added 83 for the first wicket with Rahul (46) and 153 with Pujara (61) to take India into a position from where they can hope to take 2-1 lead in the series which is level at 1-1.

When bad light stopped play, India skipper Virat Kohli was unbeaten on 22 and Ravindra Jadeja was not out on nine. The two have added 33 runs so far for the fourth wicket.

India are 171 runs ahead and have seven wickets in hand. There are two more days to play.

Brief scores (Stumps, Day 3): India 191 and 270/3 in 92 overs (Rohit Sharma 127, Cheteshwar Pujara 61, Ollie Robinson 2/67, James Anderson 1/49) vs England 290.