Third Test: Jaiswal, Gill put India in strong position

Rajkot: Yashasvi Jaiswal’s second century of the series, and good bowling by India put the hosts in a strong position against England on Day 3 of the third Test at Niranjan Shah stadium here on Saturday.

At stumps, India were 196/2, leading England by 322 runs, with Shabnam Gill batting on 65 and Kuldeep Yadav on 3.

Jaiswal and Gill put on 158 runs partnership before the opener retired hurt due to back spasm.

The duo had joined together when India were 30, having lost first innings centurion Rohit Sharma leg before.

England sniffed a run through the inexperienced middle-order thereafter, but Jaiswal and Gill floored their comeback chances with their timely partnership.

Gill was sprightly in the beginning but toned down when the English bowlers unleashed a tight leash.

Jaiswal too was circumspect, having scored 35 in 73 balls but suddenly cut loose by punishing James Anderson for boundaries to dominate the proceedings. He attacked the spinners regularly and reached to his century in the next 40 odd balls.

After reaching his third Test ton, Jaiswal leaped in joy as he did in Visakhapatnam Test, but it cost him, forcing him to retire hurt due to back spass on 104.

As Jaiswal went free-wheeling, Gill played sensibly to react to his second fifty of the series, helping India’s lead zoom past the 300 runs mark.

India fumbled towards the end of the day with Rajat Patidar getting out for the second time in the Test.

Despite Ravichandran Ashwin’s absence, Indian bowlers were fantastic with Kuldeep Yadav striking twice in the morning session.

Jasprit Bumrah had his bunny Joe Root for the ninth time in Tests as he handed a sweep shot straight into the hands of Jaiswal at second slip.

Kuldeep then trapped Jonny Bairstow leg before on a turning ball. He then had Ben Duckett caught at covers to put an end to a fabulous innings.

This forced England to go into a shell with Ben Stokes, playing cautiously before taking that wicket forced England to be cautious for a while with Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes being circumspect before calculated risks.

The duo stayed put with a watchful stand as England chipped away at the deficit.

Stokes tried to take on Ravindra Jadeja and ended up holing out to long on and Foakes chipped the next one, from Siraj, to mid on.

Siraj yorked both Rehan Ahmed and James Anderson while Tom Hartley was out stumped against Jadeja, giving India a useful lead.

Brief Scores: India 445 (Rohit Sharma 131, Ravindra Jadeja 112, Sarfaraz Khan 62; Mark Wood 4-114) & 196/2 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 104 retd hurt, Shubman Gill 65*) lead England 319 all out (Ben Duckett 153; Mohammad Siraj 4-84) by 322 runs.

UNI