London, 12 July  

Rishabh Pant overcame pain in his left index finger to score an entertaining half-century before getting run out a the stroke of lunch, leaving India at 248 for four on day three of the second Test against England here on Saturday.

With KL Rahul (98 not out, 171 balls) closed in on his 10th Test hundred and second at Lord's, Pant (74 off 112) attempted an avoidable quick single in the last over of the session but Ben Stokes pulled off a brilliant direct hit running in from cover to give his team something in a session controlled by the opposition.

The partnership between Rahul and Pant yielded 141 runs off 198 balls.

Pant, batting through pain due to the finger injury he suffered while keeping on day one, made his intentions clear even against the express pace of Jofra Archer.

Archer gave Pant freebie on the leg-side to start the day’s proceedings before the southpaw stepped out of the crease for a slash on the off-side. Barring those two fours, Pant and Rahul chose to be watchful for the first 30 minutes, collecting just 14 runs in seven overs. While Indian batters didn't score too many in that phase, England bowlers also didn't seem penetrative with Archer bowling too many bouncers that were left alone by Rahul, who shielded Pant from the speedster more because of latter's injury.

After this phase, runs began to flow when Rahul perfected a punch off the back foot.

Like England had planned for Shubman Gill, the wicket-keeper was brought close to the stumps in an attempt to deter Pant from leaving his crease. The move worked briefly until Pant decided to step up on the offensive.

In between breaks, Pant was nursing his injured finger with the help of physio.

Resuming the day at 145 for three, India reached 197 for three in the first hour of play. England had requested for a ball change after the opening hour and the request was approved by the umpires.

Rahul had punished Brydon Carse for three successive fours to get a move on his innings. If one looked at the statistics, Rahul's false shot percentage has been a mere 12 per cent in the whole series so far.

Pant on other hand pulled Ben Stokes over fine leg to bring up his half-century. His second six of the innings was a six down the ground off Shoaib Bashir.