Southampton, July 29 (IANS): England tightened their grip on the third cricket Test reducing India, who trail by 461 runs, to 108 for three at lunch on day three at The Rose Bowl here Tuesday.
India, who started the day at 25 for one and 569 runs behind, lost both overnight batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara (24) and Murali Vijay (34) rather cheaply.
The visitors scored 83 runs in 26 overs in the morning session, losing two wickets in the process.
Virat Kohli (18) and Ajinkya Rahane (11) played well without many faults to remain unbeaten at the crease.
For England, James Anderson bustled in, Stuart Broad was very clever with his lengths and Chris Woakes too was impressive. The pace trio gave the talented Indian batting line-up hardly any leeway.
While Anderson, England's top wicket-taker, gave the hosts the breakthrough Monday, it was his pace partner Broad who did all the damage this morning.
The decision not to give Broad the new ball seemed to spur the pacer on and he bowled with great aggression.
A Broad bouncer caused Pujara all sorts of problems and caught the glove of the Indian batsman.
The ball came back at Pujara off the pitch as he took evasive action, brushed the gloves and went straight into Jos Buttler's for the first time in Test cricket.
It was payback time for the English pacers as they peppered the Indian batsman with the short ball, a ploy Indian pacer Ishant Sharma adopted in Lord's to devastating effect.
Vijay had himself to blame as he chopped on a Broad good length back to his stumps. It was a very indecisive shot from a man who has built his reputation in the series of being disciplined and decisive outside the off-stump.