Pacer James Anderson suggested that although India held the upper hand for most of the Vizag Test, their clumsy third innings could have been caused by England’s previous success with their hyper-aggressive style of play. On a very benign field that hasn’t started to crumble, the hosts led by 171 at the start of the third day of play but were unable to push the match past England and crumbled for 255 runs.

The 41-year-old stated, for the record, that England would have attempted to chase even if India had led by 600 runs. England will now aim to pursue the 399-run goal in roughly 70 overs. England has a history of winning eight out of ten games in the fourth innings, including a historic victory of 378 against India at Edgbaston in 2022. Suppose the visitors cross the finish line tomorrow or the day after. In that case, it will surpass the 387 India chasing against Kevin Pietersen’s England team in December 2008 as the most successful chase in Indian history.

“I believe the trepidation was evident today, as they batted, I believe they were unsure of the number that would suffice,” Anderson remarked following Stumps on a fantastic day of cricket in which he contributed two early wickets to England’s setup. “Even with a significant advantage, they remained cautious. The coach mentioned last night that we would go for it if they received 600.

“It makes it plain to everyone that we will attempt to do it tomorrow. I realize there are 180 overs left in the game, but we’ll attempt to finish in 60 or 70. That’s how we play, and we witnessed it tonight when Rehan [Ahmed] went out and hit his shots. He wanted to go out there and hunt those runs down, even tonight. We’ve set our stall, and tomorrow will be no different; we’ll play the same way we have for the past two years. Whether we win or lose is meaningless since we are incredibly competitive and want to win every game we play, but we want to play in a specific manner. I believe we will be doing that tomorrow.

India’s second inning resembled their first, with one great inning and little help from the rest of the lineup. Shubman Gill halted a 13-inning streak without a 50+, however after being removed just before the tea break for 104, the innings lost direction, with the final six wickets falling for 44 runs.

Anderson claimed that India’s strategy was a blatant confirmation of their methodology, similar to how Australia began the Ashes with a fielder at a deep point the previous year.

“Yes, sure. There have been times over the previous two years, particularly in the last 12 months, that make us believe we’re doing something right because of how teams have responded,” he said. “Returning to the Ashes, the fact that the opening ball of the Ashes had a point on the boundary told us we were doing something correctly. “I’m not sure if intimidating is the proper term, but it’s causing various thoughts in the opposing and the captain’s minds. It certainly seemed like that today; it appeared that they were confused about what a good score would be against us. The wicket is still very excellent, with the odd one keeping low, as you would anticipate. Also, we saw Shubman play superbly today, demonstrating that there are still points to be scored out there. We have so much talent in our locker room; there are guys in there who could get 150 for us tomorrow and win the game. “We’re delighted.”