London: Opener Murali Vijay and one down batsman Cheteshwar Pujara batted doggedly as India reached 84 for one against England at tea, on the third day of the first cricket Test after Bhuvneshwar Kumar's career-best figures restricted England from taking big first innings lead.
Courtesy Bhuvneshwar's 6/82, England were all out for 319 in their first innings in reply to India's score of 295 thereby taking a slender 24 run lead.
By tea, India had already wiped out the deficit swelling their lead to 60 runs with Pujara batting on 25 in company of Vijay, who showed a lot of patience to reach 21 off 89 balls.
Shikhar Dhawan (31) again got a start but failed to convert it into a big score leaving his place in the playing XI for the third Test under scanner.
Vijay and Dhawan batted on an eased out pitch as they wiped out the deficit by the seventh over.
Dhawan hit four boundaries but a flashy shot off Ben Stokes brought about his downfall with Joe Root taking the catch at point.
Vijay in company of Pujara, however denied the bowlers any openings, looking to bat patiently for long in this third innings of the game, and brought up the 50-run mark in the 18th over. Liam Plunkett (0-12) and Moeen Ali (0-10) were the other bowlers used in the session.
Earlier, Bhuvneshwar's second successive five-for figures helped him get his name on the prestigious Lord's ‘Honours Board' after his teammate Ajinkya Rahane got his name up there on the first day.
The UP seamer's figures were second best by an Indian after Amar Singh's 6/35 at the hallowed ground back in 1936.
Ravindra Jadeja (2-46), Moahmmad Shami (1-58) and Murali Vijay (1-12) were the other wicket-takers for India in this innings.
