Ravindra Jadeja fell short of a maiden Test hundred but his career-best 90, along with Jayant Yadav’s first Test half-century, lifted India to a commanding lead of 134 on the third day in Mohali. Jadeja’s stand with R Ashwin extended to 97 and then he added 80 with Jayant for the eighth wicket as England’s hopes of remaining close to parity were knocked off course.
Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid shared the nine wickets taken by the bowlers with Stokes winning the race to a five-wicket haul, his third in Tests, when he removed Umesh Yadav to bring tea. The catch for Jonny Bairstow meant he set a new record for wicket-keeping dismissals in a year. However, from 204 for 6 India’s last four wickets had added a match-changing 213 runs and it was the first time their Nos. 7, 8 and 9 had scored half-centuries in an innings.
The end of Jadeja’s innings was out of character to the majority of his stay, if not how he is generally perceived as a batsman. Having shown commendable restraint, refusing to be tempted by England’s attempts to pray on his patience, he suddenly flicked a switch after lunch when he took four boundaries off a Chris Woakes over before trying to clear long-on against Rashid.
England still could not polish off the innings in a hurry as Jayant – who made useful runs on debut in Vizag – played with barely an alarm to bring up his fifty off 132 balls. On one hand, the ease with which India’s lower order batted showed the pitch held few demons but the psychological advantage of building this lead, with the innings having been in the balance when Virat Kohli was dismissed, will be significant.
England’s frustrations – and specifically Stokes’ – almost reached boiling point as they worked to break the ninth-wicket stand. Umesh was dropped on 9 by Alastair Cook, to his right at a lone slip, then in the same over Jayant nicked past Bairstow’s right glove, leading to an angered roar from Stokes. But before the over was done, Jayant heaved low to midwicket.
The day had begun with India holding a slender advantage at best, and a narrow deficit would have been manageable for England. Instead, the first half hour from them was oddly insipid: Moeen Ali was used for two exploratory overs before James Anderson, while Stokes’ introduction was left for 40 minutes.
Jadeja only had two previous fifties in Test cricket: his swashbuckling effort at Lord’s in 2014, which helped build a match-winning lead, and a brisk innings against New Zealand earlier this season, which hastened a declaration. This was certainly not a tail-end jolly. On the second evening, after India had suffered a wobble of 4 for 56, Jadeja allowed Ashwin to take the lead and moved to 8 off 34 balls. He then sensed a moment to attack shortly before the new ball, but, on the third day, except for a skip down the pitch against Moeen, he did not attempt anything expansive.
Jadeja’s half-century came off 104 balls and was accompanied by the familiar swordsman celebration but it was the only bat throwing on display. The disappointment of him missing a century meant we did not see what the follow-up would be. Stokes tried to prey on his patience by sending the ball wide outside off, as he had done to Kohli, but Jadeja ignored those balls. He benefited from a bonus four runs when he took a sharp single to mid-on and Jake Ball’s throw was not backed up.
Ashwin was again not moving freely between the wickets – there had been no confirmation on what the problem was – meaning the potential for twos was restricted while he was at the crease. But his timing did not desert him until he was lured into a wider delivery by Stokes, in his first over of the day, and spooned a catch to Jos Buttler at backward point.
Jayant, in so many ways a younger model of Ashwin, from his role in the team to punching deliveries through the off side, collected two sweetly-timed boundaries off Anderson to set him on his way, but there was no hurry from India. He shielded Umesh from the majority of the strike as Gareth Batty was given his one extended spell of the innings. It was economical, conceding just 18 runs in 11 overs, but oddly meant Moeen – England’s premier offspinner – was the least-used bowler of the innings.
To put England’s challenge into context, the highest first-innings deficit overturned by a visiting side to win in India is 65, by Bob Simpson’s Australia in 1964.
[Source:-ESPN]
