Monday 28 November 2016 17:08, UK
Jonny Bairstow admitted it wasn't England's day as India built a big first-innings lead on day three of the third Test in Mohali.
India were finally bowled out for 417 at tea after lower-order batsmen Ravichandran Ashwin (72), Ravindra Jadeja (90) and Jayant Yadav (55) all hit half centuries; and then the hosts reduced England to 78-4 by stumps.
Bairstow (15) was one of those to fall late in the day, and says England must show some fight on day four, with the tourists still trailing by 56 runs.
"It's not the day that we were looking for, to be brutally honest," said Bairstow. "And obviously losing Ben Stokes in the last over just caps it off.
"We thought that if we got a couple of quick wickets this morning, we'd have been in a good position. That didn't happen and we're now fighting an uphill battle.
"It's something that we have to take on the chin, and we've still got a lot of batting to come, we have to remember that, and hopefully the guys can fight hard tomorrow.
"We'll keep digging in, like we did in the first innings, and like we did with the ball - we got ourselves back in a good position, but we just weren't able to capitalise today.
"It's still a pretty decent batting wicket. Obviously there are different ways of going about it, but you've got to try and look to be proactive.
"Their bowlers are very consistent - it was a good bit of bowling from Ashwin that got Moeen [Ali]. It wasn't the greatest of shots, but if he'd have gone through it, then it would probably have gone for six.
"The balance we found this evening, was just about right. We still scored runs, and didn't just try to block it.
"That balance will need to be there again tomorrow, but it is definitely going to be a fighting day."
On a tough day for England, Bairstow - and Alastair Cook, too - could at least celebrate a personal milestone.
Bairstow affected a 68th dismissal behind the stumps on the year - a Test record - while Cook moved above Steve Waugh and into the top 10 all-time leading run-scorers in Tests.
"It's a special day for me," added Bairstow. "There was a lot of speculation about a year ago on whether I should be keeping wicket, so to put the hard work in, and for that to come to fruition, I'm delighted.
"To go past some of the great names to have ever kept wicket for their country is a great achievement.
"My keeping is still nowhere near where I want it to be though, there is still improvement to be made, but I like to think it's going in the right direction.
"As for Cooky; what an achievement. He's among the leading run-scorers in Test cricket, and those words speak for themselves.
"It shows the stature of the man to score that amount of runs on all surfaces over such a long period of time - captaining the side for a lot of it too - and I'm sure there's many more runs to come."
Live coverage of day four of the third Test between India and England in Mohali, begins at 3.45am on Sky Sports 2 and across digital platforms on Tuesday.
