On the third day of the current Test, Mohammed Siraj provided India with an ideal start when he got rid of England’s main batsmen Joe Root (22) and Ben Stokes (0) with consecutive balls, in the initial session. As Bumrah has been given rest in this game, the task of breaking the English batting structure has been bestowed on Siraj and Akash Deep, and they have taken it up quite successfully thus far.
On the second day, newcomer Akash Deep played a memorable knock as he got rid of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope on consecutive deliveries, and Siraj claimed Zak Crawley to put England on the backfoot. Siraj had Harry Brook leg-before on 1, but the resulting review went in his favour. In the last over, Brook was lucky again, nearly dragging a ball onto his stumps and nearly following it up with one foot.
England were a tad more settled at stumps on Day 2 as Harry Brook was sitting pretty at 30 and Joe Root was at ease on 18. But Day 3 started on a disastrous note as Siraj came back and dismissed Root and Stokes in two successive deliveries, and when the middle order had been shaken up, the Indian team was in the ascendancy.
Previously, the huge innings of Shubman Gill had established an account for the Indian authority. He became the first Indian captain to score the most runs in a Test match with a record-breaking 269 as he surpassed Virat Kohli, who featured the highest score by an Indian Test captain of 254 against South Africa in Pune (2019). It is also the highest Test score by an Indian batsman, deposing the previous batting record of 241 by Sachin Tendulkar at Sydney.
After picking up where they left off the previous day, 310/5, India found themselves in a tricky position, 211/5, but a 203-run stand between Gill and Ravindra Jadeja got them out of trouble. Jadeja was then removed by gloving a short ball to the keeper, to Josh Tongue, on 89, just before lunch. Washington Sundar then pitched in with the crucial 42 as part of the 144-run partnership.
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