India’s batting eventually clicked on the opening day of the third Test, but not before raising an early alarm. With two debutants to come and trailing 33 for 3 on a surface rife with runs, India may be in danger. However, India reached 326 for 5 at stumps thanks to a 204-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, their first century stand of the series. While Sarfaraz Khan made a brilliant start, scoring 62 off 66 before being run out, Rohit and Jadeja both scored hundreds.
Since their inaugural Test match in 1932, India had not had two debutants in their starting seven. Moreover, it was the first time since 1999 that they had three players in the top seven who had played fewer than two Test matches. In light of this, Mark Wood provided England an advantage when he dismissed Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the only centurions for India in series, with the new ball. Specifically, Gill took the outer edge with a ball that swung in and then nibbled away. In the opening six overs of a Test innings, Wood’s wicket total was doubled by these two victims.
Tom Hartley’s ninth over, which took Rajat Patidar’s front edge, may have been made easier by the early morning wetness that had aided Wood. Jadeja had stated that England was not a tough team to defeat the day before the Test. The second-earliest he has batted in a Test innings and the earliest in the first innings, the team management ordered him to go out and prove it from No. 5 in the ninth over.
It seemed logical to promote Jadeja in order to both protect Sarfaraz, who was making his debut, and add a left-handed hitter. Jadeja would have been forgiven for having a lot on his mind when he joined Rohit after missing a Test match for what may have been the first time due to a hamstring injury, but he batted with the clearest mind possible, simply responding to the next ball in a classic manner.
At the beginning of the partnership, Rohit, who had made a great start, had to take on unusual tasks. Wood used a deep forward square leg, a deep backward square leg, and a nice leg to try to bounce him. He had to wear one in his helmet grille, but for once, he elected not to hook after considering the score and the circumstances. In an attempt to stop the momentum, he lunged at James Anderson and once chipped one that was just out of mid-on’s grasp. He flicked against the turn and in the air with Hartley. Joe Root dropped the second try, which resulted in an edge to slip, while the first brought four.
After lacking luck in the previous two Tests, Rohit would contend that this was just the good fortune he needed. The early movement had started to wane at that point. Rohit clearly showed that he was in after he went back to hammer Anderson through extra cover for four right after that misplaced chip off him.
Jadeja has never appeared more inward. Without further ado, the two took India to lunch. Rohit blasted his fourteenth six in this series just after lunch. His attitude had been slightly disrupted by the additional pressure of leading an inexperienced lineup, but now we were witnessing the typical Rohit. There were lots of back-foot runs, some paddle sweeps, and timed lofts. He passed MS Dhoni’s 78 with his second six, with Virender Sehwag being the only other Indian to do so.
Jadeja started to catch up as soon as there was spin coming from both ends. In the middle session’s last over—the first wicketless session of the series—he struck a six. Soon after tea, Rohit scored his eleventh century off two short balls from Rehan Ahmed in two simple pairs. The team management would have long since hoped that the hitters would avoid taking chances and would instead take advantage of the loose balls that the inexperienced spin attack would undoubtedly dole out. Similar to how Rohit mentioned his hundred.
Now, everything was occurring effortlessly, particularly for Jadeja. Wood’s pace had to be resumed by England. Jadeja cleared long leg, who was 20 yards in off the rail, with a top edge. Ahmed was giving freebies to Rohit. Without exerting much energy, fifty runs were scored in 11 overs following tea. Subsequently, Rohit grabbed one from Wood that was presumably too short to drag. He went huge on it and it slid on before being caught at midwicket.
With murmurs already circulating about his strategy against fast, short-pitched bowling, Sarfaraz emerged. It was not a simple whisper, as evidenced by the way Wood started out with a deep fine third, two guys deep on the hook, a short leg, and a catching forward square leg. He circled the wicket in an attempt to bounce Sarfaraz. He casually avoided the first three. Wood persisted on one more over as his tenure was coming to a conclusion. After ducking once again, Sarfaraz bunted the unexpected yorker down the floor.
After removing the pace barrier, Sarfaraz showed incredible ability while facing spin, perhaps aided by Ben Stokes’ aggressive fields. A sequence of one-twos ensued: a loft over the infield, then by a long run into the crease to take a single off the offering that looked certain to be shorter. The sweep was out early, the feet moved precisely in line with the ball’s trajectory, and the ground lofts were completed flawlessly. Prior to anyone realizing it, Sarfaraz recorded the second-fastest fifty off 48 for an Indian debut.
Another byplay had started to take shape. Jadeja was mired throughout the 1980s and 1990s. When Sarfaraz reached 50, Jadeja had only managed to score 12. He had four dismissals between 80 and 99 despite having three hundreds. He nearly went into passivity. Hartley would have taken Jadeja out lbw pad-first on 93 if he had gone back and reassessed his lbw shout against her.
At last, on 99, Jadeja tried to send Sarfaraz back after calling him through for an improbable single. In the changing room, Rohit hurled his cap in fury when he saw India continuing to leave the door open. Jadeja reached the hundred ball the following ball, but as Sarfaraz had only been gone for one delivery, the celebrations were muted. On the second day, Jadeja returned undefeated on 110 with Kuldeep Yadav at his side, knowing there was still work to be done.
BY,HHM