Rajkot: India finished the third day of the Rajkot Test in a commanding position as they earned a 321-run lead with eight wickets in hand. Yashasvi Jaiswal got retired hurt after playing a fabulous blitz of 104 runs while Shubman Gill also played a significant role with a knock of unbeaten 65 runs.
Earlier today, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav upped the ante in absence of a peerless Ravichandran Ashwin to give India a vital 126-run first innings lead which extended to 170 as hosts reached 44 for 1 at tea on the third day of the third Test against England. The visitors suffered a mini-collapse from an assured 290 for 5 to get all out for 319 in 71.1 overs with Siraj ending with figures of 4 for 84 while Kuldeep's twin strike at the start of the day set the tone.
Indian players wore black armbands in memory of Dattajirao Gaekwad, former India skipper, who passed away recently. With Ravichandran Ashwin leaving the squad due to medical emergency, India will now play with only 10 players and a substitute, who will not be allowed to bat and bowl in the remainder of the game.
Live Updates from Day Three:
- Over 51 (196/2)
Just single from the last over of the day, comes from the bat of Shubman Gill as umpire call stumps on day 3 of the third Test. - Over 50 (195/2)
Stokes bringing in three closing fielders near the batter including slip, silly point and short leg. Hartley tried to exploit some help from the rough which he actually getting, but it was Kuldeep Yadav, who some how managed to play and defend them. - Over 49 (195/2)
Kuldeep Yadav walks in for second successive time on two days to bat as a night watchman. And he is not only defending but collecting runs for the team as well. He run three on the last ball of the over. Only two over remaining in the day, England would be eying for another wicket here. - Over 48 (191/2)
Patidar walks back on duck as he loses his wicket in the same fashion as previous innings. Another failure for Patidar. England will be more than happier after getting the wicket of Patidar and Jaiswal' calling himself retire hurt after being hammered by southpaw and Gill earlier. - Over 47 (190/1)
Rehan Ahmed replaces Mark Wood. Gill defends first two deliveries before nudging the third delivery towards deep point for a single. Patidar drives the fuller length delivery from the leggy, but it struck on the pads of Ollie Pope, who jumped to save himself while fielding at silly point, ball was in the air for a moment but landed safe. Just single from this over as well. - Over 46 (189/1)
Patidar defends all six deliveries of the over. First maiden for Hartley in this innings. Five overs remaining of the day. - Over 45 (189/1)
Jaiswal called himself retired hurt after struggling with his back. He tried to play with the pain with only seven overs remaining in the days play. Rajat Patidar is replacing him in the middle. Shubman Gill smashed the last delivery of the over for a boundary. - Over 43 (184/1)
Jaiswal comes under the ball and steers it for a single before Shubman Gill notches up to his half-century in style. Wood came in and pitches it short, and Shubman Gill whacks it over mid-on to collect half dozen of runs. He brings up his fifth half-century in Test cricket. He has made a lot of hard work to reach to his fifty today. He innings is the mix of controlled aggression and solid defence. He then slammed the next ball to the boundary towards deep point and then took the single to keep the strike as Jaiswal is struggling with his back on the other end. The partnership has also crossed 150-run mark. - Over 42 (172/1)
Another change in bowling, Tom Hartley replaces Joe Root into the attack and bowls four good deliveries to Shubman Gill while Jaiswal rotates the strike on second delivery. Just a single for India in the over. - Over 41 (171/1)
Wood running in and bowling short pitches deliveries, putting all of his effort behind every ball. However, both youngsters haven't been struggled with it this plan yet. Three runs came from the over. Shubman Gill stays five runs away from his half-century and India need three runs to cross 300-run lead. - Over 40 (168/1)
Gill comes down the pitch and slams the second ball over mid-off for a six. Then took couple of doubles to end this over. The right-hand batter is just six runs short of his half-century. Eight runs came from the 40th over. - Over 39 (158/1)
Wood continues to bowl short pitch deliveries. Gill and Jaiswal play mix of cut and pull shots and collect five singles on first five balls of the over before the southpaw cut the another bouncer in front of the square for four. With this boundary, Jaiswal also brings up his third Test century which came in only 122 deliveries.
Stats after scoring third Test 100
Sehwag: 13 inngs | Avg 53.31 | SR 66.63
Yashasvi: 13 inngs | Avg 62.25 | SR 65.87
Yashasvi is the joint seventh fastest to three Test 100s alongside Sehwag and Sanjay Manjrekar. - Over 38 (149/1)
Gill shimmies down the pitch, Root bowls nice and juicy full toss, but he fails to punish it and gets only a single. Jaiswal plays the paddle sweep, and takes two on the second delivery and defend next three deliveries. Three runs came from this over. - Over 37 (146/1)
Bowling from the other end. Ben Stokes has gone to Mark Wood asking him to do the job for England. Jaiswal nudges the short pitch length delivery towards long leg for a single, and Gill steals the single from square leg. England eyeing for wicket by bowling barrage of bouncers to either of the India batters. Only two runs came from the over for the fourth consecutive time. - Over 36 (144/1)
Another tidy over from the former skipper Joe Root. Third consecutive over for India, where only two runs have came from it. - Over 35 (142/1)
Another good over for England. Rehan concedes only two run in his over as well. - Over 34 (140/1)
After a long time, we have seen a over where Indian batters have not England bowlers for a boundary. A nice over from Joe Root. Just two runs came from it. - Over 33 (138/1)
Jaiswal showing his class and teaching England players, how to play conventional and reverse sweeps. Jaiswal played two reverse sweeps and both ended giving same results of fours runs. Stokes and England are under huge pressure, they badly need a wicket here otherwise the game will slip away from their hands. - Over 32 (130/1)
Jaiswal has switched on his T20 mode. He is hitting sixes for a fun here. Joe Root comes into the attack, looking to bowl in the rough against left-hander, but Jaiswal seats on his knee and slogs him over square leg for another six. With this, Jaiswal-Gill partnership has also crossed 100-run mark and takes India's lead to 256. - Over 31 (123/1)
Jaiswal continues to hammer England bowler here. He whacks Rehan on the very first ball of his second over for a six and Takes India's lead near 250-run mark within a blink of an eye. He concedes seven runs from the over. - Over 29 (111/1)
Gill joins the party as well. Rehan bowls his second delivery of the innings well outside off stumps, giving so much room to Gill, who cut it away to the fence. The leg-spinner then comes closer to the stumps and tries to end ball off and outside off-stump. Gill defends remaining four balls of the over. Just four runs came from the over. India have accumulated 60-runs from the last 10 overs and partnership is now nearin the 100-run mark. - Over 28 (107/1)
Gill did the right thing by giving a strike to dangerous looking Jaiswal on the first ball of the over. Jaiswal looks to run the sneaky single on next three deliveries, but doesn't it. Then he takes ariel route and slams Hartley for back to back sixes over long-on and deep mid-wicket respectively. - Over 27 (94/1)
Jaiswal changed his gears now. He smashed Anderson all over the park for 14 runs in the over with a six and two boundaries, one of which came from the outside edge. Jaiswal is just one short of his half-century now. Earlier in the over, India got a boundary on the very first ball in the form of leg byes. - Over 26 (75/1)
Tom Hartley shows discipline with the ball, bowling all six deliveries on one spot. Gill, Jaiswal steal the singles each and take India's lead past 200-run mark. - Over 25 (73/1)
First maiden of the innings for Anderson. Shubman Gill gives respect to Anderson's reverse swinging deliveries. - Over 24 (73/1)
Jaiswal takes a charge against left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, sweeping him towards square leg for a boundary. Hartley makes a good comeback on the next ball, and gets a sharp turn after pitching the ball in the rough. India managed to steal six runs from the over. - Over 23 (67/1)
Change in the bowling now. The most experienced bowler of England, James Anderson comes into the attack and Gill welcomes him with a boundary. Anderson pitches it short and the right-hand batter hammers it away for a four. However, Anderson adjusted his length pretty quickly, as he always does, and finished the conceding only four runs in the over. - Over 22 (63/1)
Youngsters Jaiswal and Gill stitching a partnership. India just 10 runs away from crossing the 200 run lead mark. - Over 11.3 (30/1)
Rohit tried to sweep a delivery from Joe Root. He misses the shot and is trapped in front of the stumps. Umpire adjudged it not out earlier but a review from the fielding team has overturned the decision. - Over 10 (27/0)
A maiden over from Joe Root and Indian innings is marching forward at a steady rate. - Over 9 (27/0)
As soon as Rohit saw a tossed up delivery from Hartley. He played an aerial stroke over the covers and the shot races to the boundary. - Over 8 (22/0)
Both the batters focusing extending Indian team's lead. Three runs in the last couple of overs and they are batting effortlessly. - Over 6 (18/0)
Three runs from the over by Joe Root. Both the batters are now getting into the groove. - Over 5 (15/0)
Two runs from Anderson's over. The pacer is getting any assistance from the surface and both the batters have been comfortable while facing him. - Over 4 (13/0)
Both the batters are now approaching the innings with patience and are focusing on building the innings steadily. - Over 3 (12/0)
Three runs taken from Anderson's over - Over 2 (9/0)
A maiden over from Root as Yashasvi didn't find the gap through the infield. - Over 1 (9/0)
Two short of length deliveries from Anderson and both punished by the batter. Two fours in succession and India start aggressively.
India's opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma walk in to bat
- Over 71.1 (319)
Siraj wraps up the England innings with Anderson's dismissal. He bowled a good length delivery shaping away from Anderson and it has hit top of the off stump. The ball went past outside edge and the stumps are rattled. - Over 70.2 (314/9)
Jadeja bowled a flat delivery outside off and Hartley walked down the track to attack the spinner. However, he was deceived in the attempt and wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel made no mistake in dislodging the bails. - Over 69.5 (314/8)
Siraj bowls a searing yorker to Rehan Ahmed and shattered the stumps of the batter. - Over 65.1 (299/7)
Two in two for the Indian side as Siraj bags a wicket on the first delivery of the over. It was full, drifting down the leg and the batter tried to whip it in the leg-side. However, the ball just stopped on him a bit and the batter ended up playing it to Rohit at mid-on. - Over 65 (299/6)
High risk shorts are always a double-edged sword and Stokes has to pay price for the big shot he aimed for. Jadeja tossed the delivery on off. It was full and wide. Stokes goes for a big hit but is caught at mid-on. - Over 63 (291/5)
A calm over but not much trouble for the batters. Seems like both of them have settled on the crease. - Over 62 (290/5)
A maiden over from Mohammed Siraj to start the new session. Stokes is getting into the grove and India will need to stop him as soon as possible by orchestrating his dismissal. - Over 61 (290/5)
Ravindra Jadeja into the attack and he fires one down the leg. Stokes takes a single and that's the only run both the batters have taken from the over. - Over 60 (289/5)
A single run from the over as both the batters have shown resilience. - Over 58 (284/5)
Seems like Siraj has been instructed to bowl short deliveries with deep square leg and deep fine leg in place. However, he bowled a poor back of length delivery on the first ball and Stokes hammered it for four runs. - Over 57 (278/5)
Three runs from the over by Kuldeep as the batters are handling the spinner with a cautious approach. - Over 56 (275/5)
A single from the over bowled by Siraj but he is throwing down a lot of half-trackers. - Over 55 (274/5)
Second instance when googly from Kuldeep deceived the batter. Stokes failed to read the delivery and missed the line of the ball. He was beaten on the inside edge but even Jurel didn't pick up the variation behind the stumps. The ball raced away to the boundary behind the wicket and four byes are awarded to the batting side. - Over 54 (268/5)
Two runs from the over as both the batters played with patience. - Over 53 (266/5)
Stokes is not letting any full length deliveries go as a quality spell of bowling from both Bumrah and Kuldeep has put England batters under some pressure. Kuldeep bowled a fullish delivery on stumps and the England captain pounced on it immediately with sweep. - Over 50.1 (260/5)
Kuldeep strikes again. The Indian spinner bowled it short and was too wide outside off. However, Duckett chased the ball to play a lofted shot over covers. However, he mistimed it and played straight in the hands of Shubman Gill who was stationed at the edge of the 30-yard circle. - Over 50 (260/4)
Stokes is now switching on aggresive mode and these are dangerous signs for the hosts. He first flicked second delivery of the over between mid-wicket and mid-on and then smacked drive through the cover region after advancing down the track. - Over 49 (252/4)
Ben Stokes is now taking a counter-attacking approach. As soon as Kuldeep served him a full delivery on off, the batter lofted it over mid-off for four runs. - Over 48 (247/4)
A maiden over from Bumrah as he is using pace variation effectively and restricting both the batters from playing freeely. - Over 47 (247/4)
A cautious approach from both the batters as Kuldeep is getting into the rhythm and is using assistance from the surface effectively. Three runs from the over. - Over 46 (244/4)
Another good over from Bumrah and the Indian bowlers have now slowed down the England innings by bowling into right areas. - Over 45 (243/4)
Kuldeep Yadav is bowling abosultely brilliant but it seems that luck is not on India's side. Two failed attempts of reverse sweep from Duckett and one flew to the left of Rohit Sharma in the slips but he wasn't able to take the tough chance. Also, the left-arm chinaman bowled a googly on the penultimate delivery and it decieved batter as well as wicketkeeper. Four byes. Brilliant bowling from both the ends but luck hasn't favoure the hosts in last few minutes. - Over 44 (238/4)
Two slower deliveries from Bumrah and batters edged it on both the occasions. However, one from Duckett landed in gap while the one from Stokes went through the gap in slips for four runs. Quality bowling from Bumrah but unfortunate for him to conceded nine runs from the over. - Over 43 (229/4)
Kuldeep is getting some turn from the surface now and he will have to capitalise on it with R Ashwin not playing anymore in the fixture. - Over 42 (226/4)
Bumrah bowled a brilliant delivery to Ben Stokes which deceived the batter because of the seam movement it caused inwards. However, Duckett is playing with comfort and ease as he seems to have judged the surface to perfection. - Over 40.4 (225/4)
Another wicket for India as Kuldeep produces a magical delivery. The ball was pitched outside off and it spun back sharply into Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow shifted his weight on backfoot but missed the line of the ball completely and the delivery hit his pads. Umpire raises his finger after the appeal from the fielding team. Bairstow walks back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. - Over 39.5 (224/3)
In an attempt to become innovative, Root loses his wicket. The right-handed batter tried to play a reverse-lap but edged it and the ball flew towards Yashsvi Jaiswal in the second slip. The youngster caught it after a bit of juggle and a much needed breakthrough for the Indian side early in the day. Root pays price for being adventurous. - Over 38 (216/2)
The surface is flat and no assistance from Bumrah on this surface. He is trying to keep his line outside off but a short delivery to Joe Root was punished by the batter with a square cut for boundary. - Over 37 (210/2)
Only one run from the over bowled by Kuldeep Yadav. The duo is playing with patience right now but they can switch the gears soon. - Over 36 (209/2)
Jasprit Bumrah kept his line outside off throughout the over and has prevented both the batters from playing in an attacking manner.
