It was again an ideal start to the day for England as they dislodged both the overnight pair of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav in successive over inside the first half-an-hour of play. At 331/7, the 400-run mark appeared quite distant but debutant Dhruv Jurel joined forces with Ravichandran Ashwin to take India closer through an unbroken 57-run stand when the lunch break was taken on Day 2 of the 3rd Test in Rajkot.
Jurel walked in after Kuldeep Yadav was caught-behind off James Anderson on 4. And Jurel then watched from the other end as Joe Root took a return catch to remove centurion Ravindra Jadeja on 112 who seemed to have gone into a shell post his century.
Follow: IND vs ENG 3rd Test Day 2
India kept a conservative approach on a pitch which still appears good for batting. However, that may have also been in part to the twin blows they suffered at the start of the session.
Jadeja bat turned inwards towards his pads as he attempted to play the ball on the on-side, resulting in Root grabbing a sharp catch over his shoulders.
Jadeja’s dismissal did peg back India right after the play began as he joined nightwatchman Kuldeep Yadav (4) in the dressing room soon after the latter’s dismissal, off Anderson.
The 41-year-old seamer is now merely four wickets away from completing a record 700 wickets for any fast bowler in the history of the sport.
For Jadeja, this is now his second highest score in Test cricket and also the second longest innings in the format in terms of balls faced.
The double blows at the identical team score of 331 forced new batters Ashwin and Jurel to drop anchor and build a partnership, since it is paramount for India to add as many runs as possible in the first essay on a benign track at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
Ashwin looked busier than his younger teammate and hit a few crisp drives to get going, but an error from his part resulted in on-field umpire Joe Wilson slapping a five-run penalty on the Indian team.
England’s first innings will thus start at 5/0 without a ball being bowled. The first such warning was given on the opening day, when Jadeja committed the same offence.
Jurel did a fine job in his maiden outing which began with a few dot balls and a single to get his first Test runs, while his first-ever boundary in international cricket showed promise of a fine aggressive batter.
Wood dropped one short angling into Jurel but the 23-year-old’s adroit hands sent the ball, clocking a shade more than 146 kmph, flying over the slip cordon for his first six in top-flight cricket.
At the lunch break, Jurel was on 31 not out from 71 balls with two fours and a six, while Ashwin reached 25 not out off 64 balls with four hits to the fence.
Brief Scores: India 388/7 in 113 overs (Rohit Sharma 131, Ravindra Jadeja 112) vs England (Mark Wood 3/95)
With PTI Inputs
Comments
0 comment