ENG vs IND, 2025, 2nd Test, Day 3: Akash Deep & Siraj thwart dangerous England; India 244 ahead

ENG vs IND 2025, 2nd Test, Day 3: Akash Deep & Siraj trigger England collapse after Smith-Brook 303-Run stand; India lead by 244 runs.

Brief Scores: India 587 (Shubman Gill 269, Ravindra Jadeja 89, Shoaib Bashir 3/167) & 64/1 (KL Rahul 28*, Josh Tongue 1/12) lead England 407 (Jamie Smith 184*, Harry Brook 158, Mohammed Siraj 6/70) by 244 runs at stumps on Day 3. 

India dominated the first two days of the second Edgbaston Test with a lead of 510 runs having picked up three wickets at the day’s end. Captain Shubman Gill mastered a fine knock of 269 runs to push the tourists near the 600-run mark. For England, the responsibility to bail them out of trouble was on the two Yorkshire batters, Joe Root and Harry Brook. 

The pitch looked drier on the third morning. But even with the cracks, it was still a very good surface and wasn’t expected to help the bowlers much with movements. 

Let’s take a look at how the three sessions progressed on Day 3 of the second Eng vs Ind 2025 series at Edgbaston: 

England counterattack to 249/5 after Mohammed Siraj’s successive wickets
For the first 20 minutes, India were all over the home side with two successive wickets. Joe Root had a thin edge on the leg-side delivery. On the very next ball, captain Ben Stokes could not handle the short ball and was caught in the hands of Rishabh Pant. That was the only 20-minute happy period for Mohammed Siraj and the tourists. 

Since then, the entire session belonged to England. Harry Brook and Jamie Smith countered with aggressive batting. Young Gill looked puzzled by the fielding positions. Even with a 450+ lead, he had one slip and one gully, and Brook’s outside edge rolled through the gap for a boundary. 

Smith eventually celebrated his second Test century in just 80 balls. England went to lunch at 249/5 with a deficit of 338 runs. 

Read More: ENG vs IND, 2025, 2nd Test, Day 2: Gill’s 269 takes India to 587; Akash Deep’s twin blows rock Eng

Jamie Smith and Harry Brook continue stunning domination; England reach 355/5 at Tea
India came up with different plans after the first session. They tried to go wide of Brook to bore the batter down. But that plan didn’t bring success. Both batters looked solid and smart with their tactics. Even when they didn’t get runs for a 15-20 minute period, they didn’t play rash shots. 

Stokes spoke about being ruthless and finding the right balance of being aggressive and defensive for the series. And his players have responded well in this department. The touring bowlers kept toiling hard with an open field position as the home side went to the break at 355/5. They still trail by 232 runs. 

England slip against India’s new ball bowling; tourists take 180-run lead
Once the visitors got the new ball, both Akash Deep and Siraj used them beautifully. With a nip-backer, the former broke through Brook’s defense. Siraj kept rushing in and took the last few wickets. England, who were on 387/5 at one point, lost their last five wickets for 20 runs to give away a lead of 180 runs. 

Aggressive India stretch lead to 244 runs 
Both openers, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, didn’t go into the shell. They put up a fifty-run opening stand in 7.2 overs. The Southpaw missed the straight ball to get trapped leg before the stumps. India finished on 64/1, stretching their lead to 244 runs. 

Read More: ENG vs IND, 2025, 2nd Test, Day 1: Under fire skipper Gill scores valiant ton; India 310-5 at stumps

What to expect on Day 4
Undoubtedly, India will plan to keep batting till the last half an hour on the fourth day. Ideally, they will want to cross the 450 or 500-run target. But they also need to understand how many over the bowlers will be comfortable with to bowl out the home side in the second innings. 

Statistical highlights from 2nd ENG vs IND 2025 Test, Day 3

• Siraj (76) has overtaken Ravichandran Ashwin’s tally (72) for the number of wickets in SENA nations.
• Ben Stokes recorded the joint-most ducks (2) in Tests against India as captain for England. 
• Jamie Smith now has the joint-third most 50+ scores (06) in Tests among designated wicket-keepers since the start of Jan 2023. 
• Brook & Smith brought up the highest sixth wicket partnership (303) for England against India in Tests.
• Jamie Smith scored the joint third-fastest hundred (off 80 balls) for England in Tests.
• Harry Brook crossed the 2500-run mark during the course of his innings.
• Brook and Smith brought up the highest sixth-wicket stand (x) in Tests at Edgbaston. 
• Smith (184*) has registered the highest individual Test score at Edgbaston as designated wicket-keeper, overtaking Adam Gilchrist’s 152 in 2001.
• Smith and Brook registered England’s second-highest sixth-wicket stand (303) in Tests. Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes’ 399 in 2016 against South Africa is at the top.
• Siraj’s fifer is his first since he took 6-15 against South Africa at Cape Town in January 2024.
• England got two hundreds & six ducks in the first innings at Edgbaston 2025. It is only the second instance this has happened in Test history. The first occasion was in Mirpur in 2022 with Bangladesh getting these scores against Sri Lanka.
• Yashasvi Jaiswal has completed 2,000 Test runs. He is the joint-fastest (40 innings) to reach this landmark for an India batter along with Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag. 

Read More: From 20-Wicket Obsession to Batting Depth: Is India Losing its Test Edge Post-Kohli?

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