ENG vs IND | Twitter impressed as Jaiswal's century gives India upper hand on day three

‌England need 324 more runs to win the five-match series, while India need nine wickets to square the same as the final Test remained interestingly poised after the third day’s play at The Oval in London. The home side, in pursuit of 374, finished at 50/1 after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century, along with half-centuries from Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar, took India to 396 in their second essay.

Starting the third day of the fifth Test at 75/2 and with an overall lead of 52 runs, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Akash Deep continued their overnight partnership to frustrate England at The Oval in London. Night Watchman Akash began aggressively with a cross-batted heave of Jacob Bethell, over wide long-on for a boundary, in the third ball of the day. He looked assured against the pace duo of Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson, hitting boundaries off them too. England continued to have butter fingers on the field as Zak Crawley dropped Akash off Tongue when the batter was on 21. He made them pay dearly, getting to his maiden fifty after hitting three fours in two overs off Atkinson. The batter was pumped up after getting to the milestone, with the dressing room also joining in to acknowledge his crucial knock in the context of the game. Meanwhile, Jaiswal quietly raked in the runs, picking the gaps in the slip cordon with a surgeon-like precision, with three boundaries behind the wicket. But Jamie Overton broke the 107-run partnership for the third wicket, getting Akash with the short ball on the stroke of lunch. Still, it was the visitors’ session with 114 runs coming in 26 overs for the loss of just one wicket.

But England found their way into the match with Atkinson trapping Indian skipper and in-form batter Shubman Gill with the first ball after the restart. But Jaiswal remained focused to complete his sixth hundred, fourth against England, in Tests with a quick single off Atkinson in the 51st over. Karun Nair (17), however, looked uncomfortable during his short stay in the middle, getting hit by a nasty lifter from Atkinson before enduring a number of play and misses. His 32-ball innings finally came to an end with the pacer once again troubling the batter with extra bounce. Tongue finally got rid of Jaiswal, who tried to further his scoring behind the wicket, with Overton taking a catch near the ropes at third man. The Indian opener hit 14 fours and two sixes during his knock of 118 as India’s lead reached only 250 with six batters back in the hut. But Ravindra Jadeja, who has been unbeaten in the second innings throughout this series, came to the fore yet again. He added 50 runs for the seventh wicket with Dhruv Jurel (34) on either side of tea as India walked in for the break after going past the 300-run mark.

The all-rounder, then, put on another 34 runs with Washington Sundar en route to his sixth fifty-plus score in this duel before being sent back by Tongue with the second new ball. Sundar, who played second fiddle till then, suddenly shifted gears to put on a stunning assault against the England pacers. After making 17 off his first 27 balls, the all-rounder smashed four sixes and two fours in three overs from Tongue and Atkinson to complete a 39-ball half-century. The southpaw took the visitors close to the 400-run mark before being the last batter to be dismissed, setting the home side with a target of 374.

England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, once again, started brightly with yet another fifty partnership for the hosts. But Mohammed Siraj helped the visitors end the day on a high, cleaning up Crawley with a perfect yorker in the final ball of the day to leave the match interestingly poised.

Siraj gets him!

He waited all day!

Oh yes!

He knew

Wisely

What a series

Crazy

Miya bhai

Sunshine

Jealous

GOAT

It was written all over