Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his sixth hundred under trying circumstances as India extended their lead to 281 runs at tea on the third day of the fifth and final Test against England on Saturday. India lost three wickets in the afternoon session, but reached 304 for six at the break.
Jaiswal (118 off 164), who was dropped twice on Friday, got another breather on day three. He, however, made the most of the lifelines offered to him to score his second hundred of the series. Shubman Gill (11 off 9) struck two fine boundaries before again falling to an incoming ball with Gus Atkinson dismissing the Indian captain off the first ball in the post-lunch session. With this, Gill ended the series with 754 runs, just 20 short of Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time record by an Indian.
Jaiswal, who played the cut shot to good effect, was eventually caught in the third man region. Karun Nair was caught behind off Atkinson and as has been his problem, extra bounce outside the off stump did him in. The highest chase at The Oval is 263 and India have already made sure that England will have to chase down a record target in the fourth innings.
Earlier, night watchman Akash Deep scored a maiden half-century. Resuming the day at 75 for two, India played well to reach 189 for three at the break with Yashasvi Jaiswal (85 not out off 106 balls) and Akash Deep (66 off 94 balls) sharing a 107-run stand off 150 balls. The India pacer, who was on four overnight, was eventually dismissed by Jamie Overton towards the end of the session on a short ball he could not control, giving an easy catch to Gus Atkinson at point.
A bowler short, England failed to control the run flow against Akash Deep. Zak Crawley dropped a regulation catch of Akash Deep at third slip off Josh Tongue. England have so far dropped 19 catches across 10 Indian innings. The surface also played a lot better than the first two days with the ball not seaming around that much.
Akash Deep, who had just one first class fifty to his name prior to this game, made his intentions clear in the first over of the day bowled by left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell. The Indian straightaway dispatched Bethell over midwicket for a boundary. Akash Deep got to his fifty with another slog off Atkinson. He was fired up with his stellar effort, which was duly applauded by the Indian dressing room. Jaiswal, at the other end, was happy to let Akash Deep go for his shots.
Scoreboard (at tea): India 1st innings: 224 England 1st innings: 247 India 2nd innings (overnight: 75/2 in 18 overs) Yashasvi Jaiswal c Overton b Tongue 118 KL Rahul c Root b Tongue 7 Sai Sudharsan lbw b Atkinson 11 Akash Deep c Atkinson b Overton 66 Shubman Gill lbw b Atkinson 11 Karun Nair c Smith b Atkinson 17 Ravindra Jadeja batting 26 Dhruv Jurel batting 25 Extras: 23 (b-12, lb-5, nb-2, w-4) Total: 304/6 in 71 overs Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-70, 3-177, 4-189, 5-229, 6-273 Bowling: Gus Atkinson 23-3-99-3, Josh Tongue 26-3-100-2, Jamie Overton 18-2-74-1, Jacob Bethell 1-0-6-0, Joe Root 3-1-8-0.
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