That late run-out will surely have frustrated India but if you had offered them 326 for 5 at the start of the day, they would have taken it. If you had made the same offer at 33 for 3, they would have bitten your hand off. Ravindra Jadeja will now be expected to make up for that run-out with more runs tomorrow, but don’t forget he has scored a brilliant hundred and is unbeaten. We leave you with a teaser from my end-of-the-day report.
On the first day of the third Test, India’s batting finally came together but not without an early alarm. Down at 33 for 3, on a pitch that was full of runs, with two debutants to follow, India were looking at possible trouble when Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja added 204, India’s first century stand of the series. Rohit and Jadeja got centuries before Sarfaraz Khan made a sparkling debut, 62 off 66, to take India to 326 for 5 at stumps.
This was the first time India were playing two debutants in the top seven since their first Test, the first time they had three players in top seven who had played fewer than two Tests since 1999. That in mind, Mark Wood gave England a leg-up when he got rid of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, India’s only centurions this series, with the new ball. Gill in particular got a good ball, which swung in and then nipped away, taking the outside edge. These two doubled Wood’s tally of wickets in the first six overs of a Test innings.
The early-morning moisture that had helped Wood possibly helped Tom Hartley grip one in his ninth over, which took the front edge from Rajat Patidar. A day before the Test, Jadeja had said England were not a difficult side to beat. The team management asked him to go out and demonstrate it, the second-earliest he has walked in to bat in a Test innings, and the earliest in the first innings.