India vs England, 3rd Test, Day 2: Ben Duckett quickfire century (133*) bolsters England after India make 445. Session-wise highlights of Day 2, Rajkot.
Brief Scores: ENG 207/2 (Duckett 133*, Ashwin 1/37) trail IND 445 (Rohit 131, Jadeja 112, Wood 4/114) by 238-runs.
The highlight of the day was Ben Duckett, who tore away India’s bowling into pieces with his 133*. India earlier did a great job of reaching 445 in their first innings, but England took control of the game at the end of the day with 207/2.
India came on the second day with 326/5 on the board, aiming around 450 on the back of Ravindra Jadeja’s 110*. England’s goal was to make a few early breakthroughs on the second day of the third Test at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot.
Talking point: England showed a counter-attacking gameplan
The question before the series was whether England would keep on going with their ‘Bazball’ formula, but they went with an ultra-attacking mindset. Duckett, followed by all the England bowlers kept on smashing both the pacers and spinners to put pressure on the hosts. India looked clueless before some of the shots.
Ashwin-Jurel advanced India with a 57* run stand to 388/7 at lunch
India lost their nightwatchman, Kuldeep Yadav, early in the morning as James Anderson captured his 696th Test wicket. Centurion Jadeja too looked to be batting in a defensive mindset. He just chipped the ball back to Joe Root, as India kept on committing the same mistakes throughout the series.
Ravichandran Ashwin and another debutant, Dhruv Jurel, started to stitch up a partnership. Both of them showed ultra-defence against the England bowlers. With an unbeaten eighth wicket stand of 57* runs; they took India to 388/7 at lunch.
Read More: IND vs ENG, 3rd Test, Day 1: Rohit, Jadeja tons & Sarfaraz debut fifty take India to 326-5 at stumps
Bumrah’s 26-run vital knock pushed India to 445
Both Jurel and Ashwin showed some intent in their batting after the break. Ashwin (37) dragged the ball into the hands of the mid-on fielder to end the 77-run partnership. Jurel (46) missed out on his fifty too. But Jasprit Bumrah batted smartly and played a few big shots for his vital 26-run knock. India finished their first innings on 445.
England reached 31/0 at tea, trailing by 414 runs
England started their first innings on 5/0, as India was penalized for running in the danger area. Both the openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett saw off the tricky period to reach 31/0 at the tea break. They still trail India by 414 runs.
Duckett’s 133* counterattacked India to take England to 207/2
Duckett took the India bowlers from the start of the second session. With sweeps and reverse sweeps, he raced away to his fifty in the blink of an eye. India finally broke the 84-run opening stand as Ashwin picked up his 500th Test wicket in the form of Crawley (15). But Duckett kept on batting on a different planet.
India kept on changing the fields, attacking with different bowling combinations, but nothing stopped Duckett. He reached his third Test century in just 88 balls, with a beautiful cover drive for a boundary.
India broke the 93-run second wicket stand, as Mohammad Siraj trapped Ollie Pope (39) before the stumps. Duckett stayed unbeaten on 133 in 118 balls, as England finished the second day on 207/2, trilling by 238 runs.
Read More: IND vs ENG, 2nd Test, Day 4: Combined bowling effort helps India win; series scoreline stands at 1-1
What’s to come
England will look to go close to India’s first-innings score. If possible, then beyond that point with a good amount of lead. India has to see the back of Duckett early tomorrow and pick up early wickets with various plans to make a comeback in the game.
Statistical highlights from India vs England, 3rd Test, Day 2
Jadeja now has 1000 Test runs at an average of 35.71 against England.
After Ashwin and Kapil Dev, Jadeja becomes the third India player to have a combination of 3000 runs and 200 wickets in Tests.
Jurel joins Hardik Pandya with the most sixes (3) on debut for India.
Jurel now has the third most runs (46) on debut as a designated wicket-keeper for India.
Ashwin becomes the second fastest (98 Tests) to reach 500 wickets, after Muttiah Muralitharan (87 Tests).
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