London, Aug 3 (IANS) Mohammed Siraj castled Zak Crawley with a brilliant yorker to leave England on 50/1 in 13.5 overs at stumps on day three of fifth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test against India at The Oval. England need another 324 runs to win the match and clinch a series victory.
India dominated most of day three’s play – Akash Deep hitting an entertaining 66, his first Test fifty and was followed by Yashasvi Jaiswal making 118, his sixth Test century. Jaiswal’s knock of 118 came off 164 balls, laced with 14 fours and two sixes, held immense value as it came in front of his parents and elder brother present in the stadium’s stands, which also had ODI captain Rohit Sharma seeing the proceedings.
Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who timed his acceleration well, then smashed knocks of 53 each as the visitors’ made 396 in 88 overs of their second innings. For England, Josh Tongue took 5-125, while Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton picked 3-127 and 2-98. In the pursuit of chasing 374 and sealing the series with a 3-1 scoreline, England had done so well to survive the last hour, with Ben Duckett being unbeaten on 34.
But Siraj taking out Crawley for 14 – bluffing the batter with a field set for short ball – at the stroke of stumps gave India a much-needed lift ahead of a crucial day four’s play. Siraj is also the equal leading wicket-taker in the series alongside Tongue and he looms as a crucial figure for India if they are to make the series scoreline 2-2.
In the morning, the majority of fireworks were produced by Akash, who was dropped on 21, and hit his maiden half-century in international cricket, laced with 12 boundaries, before falling to Jamie Overton. By then, Akash had done way more than asked of his nightwatchman duties while sharing a decisive 107-run partnership with Jaiswal.
Akash, who came in the fag end of day two’s play, wasted no time in finding his groove – hoicking Jacob Bethell for four, before swiping Atkinson for another boundary. He and Jaiswal took a boundary each off Tongue, before Akash survived an lbw appeal off him and was fortunate to see Crawley dropped his catch at third slip.
Jaiswal then welcomed Overton with an upper-cut over the slip cordon for four, before Akash put away Atkinson for three easy boundaries. Akash then swiped Atkinson through the leg side for a boundary which brough up his maiden Test half-century. He celebrated it with a fist pump and pointed to the India crest on his jersey, even as the Indian team stood up to applaud his knock, with head coach Gautam Gambhir making a rare smile.
England’s frustration continued as Akash took two boundaries off Overton and then proceeded to hit Tongue for a boundary. But shortly before lunch, Akash’s fun time ended he looked to send Overton’s short ball away in the leg-side, but the leading edge was caught by backward point diving in to take the catch. Gill came in to unfurl two picture-perfect steer and drive, before lunch break arrived.
The afternoon session began with a bang for England as Atkinson bowled a sharp nip-backer that smacked Gill on the knee roll and trapped him plumb lbw. Gill went for the review, but there was no inside edge, as he fell for 11. Jaiswal brought up his fourth century against England, and his second ton of this series with a hurried single through backward point.
But from the other end, Karun Nair had a jittery time at the crease and couldn’t capitalise on a lifeline – a dropped catch in slips – as he was soon undone by that extra bit of bounce and nicked behind to Jamie Smith off Atkinson’s bowling.
Jaiswal and Jadeja continued to collect boundaries in a jiffy before the latter’s knock came to an end when his ramp shot was caught by backward point off Overton’s bowling. England thought they had Jadeja lbw when Tongue hit him on the boot, but he overturned it successfully on review and with Dhruv Jurel hitting three well-timed boundaries, India reached tea break without any further damage.
The final session began with India’s lead going past 330, before Overton trapped Jurel lbw for 34. Jadeja got his fifth fifty of the series by punching Tongue through backward point for four, before edging to second slip off the pacer. Three balls later, a fired-up Tongue trapped Siraj lbw.
Sundar then began his acceleration by hoicking Atkinson over midwicket for six, before swivelling Tongue over fine leg and mid-wicket for a brace of maximums. The all-rounder cut and pulled Atkinson for back-to-back boundaries, before bringing up his fifth Test fifty from 39 balls by smacking the pacer over mid-wicket for six.
But in a bid to take another six off Tongue, Sundar skied a catch into the leg side, where Crawley held on to it, despite colliding with Ollie Pope, as Tongue completed his five-wicket haul.
Just like in the first innings, Crawley and Ben Duckett (34 not out) got them off to a breezy start as India got Prasidh Krishna to share the new ball with Akash instead of Siraj. Barring a couple of deliveries from Akash having extra bounce, England weren’t too troubled, as there was lack of seam movement on offer for the Indian bowlers.
Duckett began by picking effortless boundaries via flicks, whenever Prasidh bowled fuller. Crawley took a four each off Akash and Prasidh before a measured Duckett drove and slashed Siraj for boundaries. After a maiden from Siraj, Crawley faced 18 dot balls in a row before breaking free with a single.
By the time stumps were in sight, the opening partnership crossed 50 runs and it seemed England had done enough to end the day unscathed. But Siraj produced a superb inswinging yorker to go past Crawley’s bat and hit the off-stump to end the day with a magical moment for India, who really believe they can win the game and make the series scoreline 2-2.
Brief Scores: India 224 and 396 in 88 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 118, Akash Deep 66; Josh Tongue 5-125, Gus Atkinson 3-127) lead England 247 and 50/1 in 13.5 overs (Ben Duckett 34 not out; Mohammed Siraj 1-11) by 324 runs
–IANS
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