Rajkot, Feb 16 Centuries from Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, along with handy contributions from debutant duo Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel, as well as from Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah, took India to a strong 445 in their first innings of the third Test against England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Friday.
India were reduced to 33/3 in the first 45 minutes of day one, before Rohit made 131 off 196 balls, hitting 14 fours and three sixes, in his 11th Test century. He added 204 runs for the fourth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, who made 112, to get India’s innings back on track.
Coming out to bat at number six, Sarfaraz played a sparkling knock of 62 off 66 balls, laced with nine fours and a six in his first Test innings, while sharing a stand of 77 with Jadeja for the fifth wicket.
Ashwin (37) and Jurel (46) added 77 runs for the eighth-wicket stand, followed by Bumrah making 26 at the end to take India to a strong total. With turn in the pitch, India will fancy their chances with the ball, though they will be concerned over how much bowling overs they will get out of Mohammed Siraj, who injured his right knee while batting.
For England, speedster Mark Wood took four wickets while other bowlers were amongst the scalps. The visitors’, though, would rue their dropped catches and not using the DRS diligently. They will begin their innings from 5/0, via the penalty runs India were fined due to Ashwin and Jadeja running on the danger area of the pitch.
Resuming from 331/7, India added only 62 runs in the morning session. James Anderson struck in the fourth over of the session after getting a faint edge of night watchman Kuldeep Yadav's bat to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. In the next over, Jadeja chipped a tame drive straight back to part-time off-spinner Joe Root, falling for 112.
With two new fresh batters, England went to Mark Wood’s thunderbolts, and Ashwin got off the mark with a beautiful punch through cover for four. He tried to bounce out Jurel, who arched back and ramped over slips for six.
Ashwin continued to hit lovely drives and cuts for boundaries, while Jurel looked solid and cleverly glanced and drove in the gap to get his runs, as making 400+ now looks a realistic target for India.
The only blip for India though was Ashwin running into the danger area while facing Rehan Ahmed in the 102nd over, which led to on-field umpire Joel Wilson fining India with a five-run penalty.
Post lunch, Ashwin continued to get boundaries via on-drive and glance, even as Jurel was dropped twice on 32 by Ollie Pope at mid-wicket and by Ben Stokes at leg-slip. England finally held on to a chance when Ashwin miscued a loft off Rehan Ahmed and was caught by a forward-diving mid-on.
Jurel delighted with his sixes over mid-wicket and mid-off, but his attempt to go for a late-cut against a flatter and wide delivery from Ahmed resulted in Foakes taking a brilliant low catch. Bumrah sparkled with his slogs over mid-on yielding a four and six, followed by beautiful lofted drive over cover for a boundary.
Siraj was hit on the top of his knee while going for a reverse-sweep off Tom Hartley, and changed the out decision to not-out via DRS. In the next over, he again got treatment from the physio due to the pain from the blow on the knee. Wood then trapped Bumrah lbw with a slower delivery to end India’s innings.
Brief Scores: India 445 in 130.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 131, Ravindra Jadeja 112; Mark Wood 4-114, Rehan Ahmed 2-85) against England
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