Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley ambled to the middle for a very brief start to England’s second innings and, with shadows lengthening, began their stalling tactics that ultimately worked. The Indians managed just one over from star bowler Jasprit Bumrah when they could maybe have forced three.

India’s players, especially captain Shubman Gill, were livid, and much of their ire was directed at Crawley, who held up Bumrah by saying there was movement behind the bowler’s arm and again when he took some time to recover from being hit on the glove.

The Indians surrounded Crawley, who barked back, and there was plenty of finger-pointing before the teams walked off the field, with the sledging continuing.

England players were seen laughing on the balcony outside their dressing room.

“I understand, from an opening batter’s point of view, it’s something that happens a lot,” KL Rahul said of what he described as “theatrics” at the end of play.

It remains to be seen if India’s players are still as fired up at the start of Day 4, with the late-day drama lighting up what had been an attritional test match until that point.

Injury to Bashir

Bashir, England’s frontline spinner, had to go off the field with an injury to the little finger on his left hand, sustained after lunch off his bowling when he stopped a fierce shot down the ground from Jadeja.

The spinner didn’t reappear for the rest of the innings and was facing further assessment after stumps.