Indian bowlers breathed fire in the first few overs as England lost both their openers before tea of the 3rd Test of the five-match series at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, now known as Niranjan Shah Stadium, in Rajkot on Sunday.
Ollie Pope was at the crease during the break with England still needing 539 runs to win.
Chasing 557, England were off to a watchful start, in complete opposite of their aggressive nature. Crawley took two boundaries, but was involved in a horrible mix-up as Ben Duckett went in pursuit of a single after pushing the ball to mid-wicket. Crawley sent Duckett back, but it was too late as Mohammed Siraj fired in a throw and wicket keeper Dhurv Jurel rushed towards the stumps and collected the ball in motion to break the stumps quickly.
At the stroke of tea, Crawley was trapped lbw by Jasprit Bumrah by a sharp nip-backer, which England couldn’t overturn on review.
IND vs ENG, 3rd Test Day 4 – LIVE
England are staring at a comprehensive defeat after India set a mammoth target of 557 ton win, having declared at 430/4, which was powered by Yashasvi Jaiswal’s blistering double hundred. Jaiswal came back to the crease after Shubman Gill’s departure on 91 and dominated an unbeaten 172-run stand with debutant Sarfaraz Khan, who hit 68.
India had been in the box seat since grabbing a handy first-innings lead of 126 and Shubman Gill (91) further consolidated their position when play resumed.
There was further good news for India as spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who flew home on Friday following a family emergency, reunited with the squad and is likely to bowl.
Ashwin will be available to bowl as soon as he is needed despite having spent all of day three off the field on Saturday.
According to the game’s playing conditions, the umpires can waive the requirement for a player to spend as much time back on the field as they spent off it before bowling if their absence was for “wholly acceptable reasons, which shall not include illness or internal injury”.
Ashwin, 37, had to leave the match on Friday’s day two, hours after becoming just the ninth bowler to reach 500 Test wickets.
The five-test series remains poised at 1-1.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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