India had another fruitful day in the Vizag Test, maintaining their strong position against England. The visitors were 67 for 1 at stumps on Day 3, still needing 332 for a famous win. Shubman Gill was the fulcrum of India’s second innings effort, scoring a sparkling 147-ball 104.
The day started with England making early inroads. James Anderson bowled a peach of a delivery to Rohit Sharma that slanted in a touch, pitched on a fuller length and nipped away just enough to rattle the timber. A quintessential Anderson delivery. He then dislodged Yashasvi Jaiswal by tempting him to drive, with the edge being pouched by Joe Root. Anderson could have also got Gill’s wicket. However, an appeal for an LBW was turned down by the on-field umpire. England took the review but Gill survived on umpire’s call.
Just before that vociferous shout, Gill also was given out LBW. This time around, the Indian batter placed his belief in the review and the ball-tracker showed that he had eked out an inside edge. Gill made use of those narrow escapes by cracking a crucial hundred to return to form.
Gill proceeded to play a range of shots – cuts, whips and lofts. The No. 3 batter also started to pick the length better, which allowed him to use the depth of the crease and play back to shorter length deliveries. Even after losing his batting partners, Shreyas Iyer and Rajat Patidar, Gill played with a positive intent and stitched another key stand of 89 with Axar Patel. Gill soon completed his hundred in the 52nd over. His celebration after reaching the landmark was rather muted.
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Gill soon fell to a reverse sweep off Shoaib Bashir. Ben Stokes also deserves some praise for engineering that dismissal. The England captain tempted Gill to go for the shot by taking Rehan Ahmed out of the short third man position.
After Gill was dismissed, Rehan and Tom Hartley bagged wickets at regular intervals. R Ashwin, who was given a reprieve off Hartley, made a useful 29. Ultimately, India were cleaned up for 255. Ben Foakes yet again starred for England with his glovework. Just to illustrate the point further, he grabbed a superlative catch to send Patidar back to the pavilion.
As expected, England began their second innings on an aggressive note. Mukesh Kumar was the one who came in for some severe punishment. It is true that with his straight-seam grip, Mukesh perhaps wouldn’t generate much swing in the air. However, it has been rather surprising to note that the seam bowler hasn’t used the crease even once in this Test so far.
At the fag end of the day, Ashwin brought smiles on the faces of Indian fans by removing Duckett, with KS Bharat taking a fine catch. Barring a little bit of uneven bounce, the pitch played reasonably well on Day 3. The Indian spinners would hope for more assistance on the fourth day as they look to wrap up England’s innings and square the series. Meanwhile, England would be sweating a bit on Root’s fitness as he injured his finger while fielding in the slip cordon.
IND vs ENG | Day 3: Live Discussion https://t.co/Lydeelu8Xx
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) February 4, 2024