ENG vs IND 2025, 5th Test, Day 3: Jaiswal ton helps India set target of 374; England 50-1 at stumps

ENG vs IND 2025, Oval Test Day 3 Highlights: Jaiswal’s century, fifties from Jadeja & Sundar power India to set 374-run target; England 50/1 at stumps

Brief scores: IND 224 & 396 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 118, Akash Deep 66, Josh Tongue 5/125) lead ENG 247 & 50/1 (Ben Duckett 34*, Mohammed Siraj 1/11) by 323 runs at stumps on Day 3. 

India find themselves with a more than decent chance of squaring the series 2-2 at the Oval thanks to third innings century from Jaiswal and his century stand with night watchman, Akash Deep. Their first session defiance along with fifties from Ravindra Jadeja & Washington Sundar, propel India to set a competitive target of 374 runs.

Akash Deep makes England sweat in the first session, India adds 114 runs 
India were in a tricky situation at the start of day three, at 75/2 and 52 runs ahead in the second innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal was batting on 51, and the other overnight batter was the night watchman, Akash deep. While coming in, England would have hoped to see the back of Akashdeep early in the piece and put the pressure on India’s middle-order with a relatively newer ball. 

But what transpired was opposite, as for the large part of the session, the pair kept England quiet. They not just ensured England didn’t get any wickets, but managed to score runs rather quickly, and England’s poor catching helped their cause. The pair added 50 runs in 74 balls, and their 100-run stand came in 145 balls. 

In the process, Akash Deep reached his maiden Test half-century and was the main architect in India, adding 114 runs in that session.

Read More: ENG vs IND 2025, 5th Test, Day 2: India 52 runs ahead after 15-wicket day at The Oval

India lost three wickets, but the lead grew to 281 runs 
After a poor first session, England hit back hard by picking the prized wicket of Shubman Gill in the very first ball. While Jaiswal was going great guns and nearing his century, Karun Nair was largely uncomfortable during his brief stay at the crease.

Shortly after Jaiswal reaching his second ton of the series, Nair squandered yet another start by falling to Gus Atkinson for 17. The southpaw in a bid to accelerate, struck one straight to the fielder at backward point and departed but not before making a superlative 118. Ravindra Jadeja continued to look good and added quick runs with Dhruv Jurel to take India to 304/6 at tea on Day 3.

Washington Sundar’s blitz take India lead past 350, England 50/1 at stumps 
India, already in a decent position, came with a bid to add as much as possible in the final session. Jurel was the one to take on the bowling and he along with Jadeja brought up a 50-run stand for the seventh wicket in just 71 balls. Jamie Overton ended their stand with a clever outwsinger and last match Washington Sundar came in No.9 to join Jadeja.

The spin all-rounder duo were busy at the crease and Jedeja reached his sixth fifty-plus score of the series. Tongue accounted for the wickets of both Jadej & Siraj in the same over and it looked like India’s lower order will crumble easily. But Sundar had other ideas as he smashed England all round the park and with Prasidh Krishna, added 39 runs for the last wicket. He hit four sixes and as many boundaries to notch up a 39-ball half-century to take India’s total to 396. 

India took a leaf from the first innings as they came with better plans to counter the threat of English opening batters. As a result of some smart field settings, the home side didn’t quite bring their Bazball and brought the 50-run mark in 79 balls. On the final bal of the day, a searing yorker from Mohammed Siraj shattered the timber of Zak Crawley.

Read More: ENG vs IND 2025, 5th Test Day 1: India manage 204-6 on a stop-start day; Karun Nair batting 52*

What’s Next
On what could be the final day of this mouth-watering Test series, England need further 323 runs to complete a record run chase at this venue and win the series 3-1. On the other hand, India will fancy the chances leveling the series 2-2 if they could capture the remaining eight English wickets.

Statistical Highlights from The Oval ENG vs IND 2025 Test, Day 3:

• The third wicket partnership of 107 runs between Jaiswal & Akash Deep is the first century-plus stand involving the latter in Tests. 
• Akash Deep registered his highest FC score (66).
• A total of 12 hundreds have been scored by India batters in Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. This is the most number of individual hundreds for India in a bilateral Test series.
• A total of 19 hundreds have been scored in Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. This is the most number of hundreds scored in a bilateral Test series in England.
• Jaiswal became the fifth India batter to score 400+ runs in ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.
• This is the first time that three India batters have registered 500+ runs each in a Test series for India. Gill, Rahul & Jadeja feature in this list.
• This is the 11th instance of an India no. 9-11 batter to register a fifty-plus score in Tests in England.
• Jadeja now has the joint most fifty plus scores (6) in a series coming at 6 or lower away from home

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