Lokesh Rahul scored his second century at the historic Lord’s, after which India managed to equal 387 runs of England’s first innings on the third day of the third Test match. In addition to Rahul’s best performance (100 runs off 177 balls), Ravindra Jadeja (72 runs off 131 balls) and Rishabh Pant (74 off 112 balls) made significant contribution during India’s first innings.
It will be a challenge for India to bat on such a pitch where some balls are jumping a little after the pitch and some turn is also being received. After being reduced to 387 runs of the Indian innings, Jack Crolee wasted the precious time and ensured that he had to face only one aggressive over of Jaspreet Bumrah, which would lead to England with a slight lead of two runs on the fourth day.
Crowley is present at the crease by scoring two runs while Ben Docket has not opened the account yet. In the last five minutes of the third day, there was a sharp noise between Indian captain Shubman Gill and Crowlie. When Crolee was wasting time, the Indian captain in some strong words asked the England opener to show some courage while facing Bumrah.
Earlier, like England’s innings, India also decided to bathe on a double -speed pitch and scored at a speed of less than 3.5 runs per over. Indian lower order batsmen made a lot of marigold but could not increase the run rate.
After Jadeja scored a third consecutive half -century, Chris Woakes was caught behind the wicket in an attempt to give a glass in the leg side. Akash Deep (Seven) managed to turn two LBW decisions given by the field umpire with the help of DRS but was dismissed after hitting a six.
Washington Sundar (23) finally caught Harry Brooke on Fine Leg in an attempt to play a big shot off Jofra Archer, which ended India’s innings. Chris Woakes took three wickets for England while Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes took two wickets.
Earlier, as soon as the second session of the day started, opener Rahul Lord’s was dismissed on a loose shot after completing his second Test century on the ground. Rahul completed his 10th century in the Test by taking one run off Archer’s ball immediately after lunch. He is the second Indian batsman to score more than one century at Lord’s after Dilip Vengsarkar (three centuries).
Rahul’s concentration, however, dissolved on the next ball to complete a century. He tried to drive on Shoaib Bashir’s flight to drive but the ball went into the hands of Harry Brook standing on the first slip with the bat.
After Rahul was dismissed, India had trouble scoring fast runs. Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy (30) focused on saving wickets without taking risks. India scored just 68 runs in the second season of the day. During this time, Archer’s rapid bounce was also hit on Reddy’s helmet.
In this session, Bashir had to leave the ground soon after taking a wicket on his own bowling. England took the second new ball as soon as 80 overs of the Indian innings were completed but they did not get more than this. At the beginning of the session, his only success was his only success in this session. Rahul scored 100 runs in the 177 -ball innings with the help of 13 fours.
After the tea, the England bowlers made a good comeback and harassed the Indian batsmen with a stringent line length. On the out of Reddy Stokes, he was caught by the batter Jamie Smith.
He shared a 72 -run partnership with Jadeja. Jadeja then added 50 runs with Sundar but was dismissed on the important occasion, which led to the team taking the lead in the first innings. He hit a six and eight fours in the 131 -ball innings.
Earlier, Rishabh Pant scored an exciting half -century despite his left index finger pain, but was run out just before lunch. Pant (74 runs, 112 balls) was run out in an attempt to steal runs in the last over of the first season.
England captain Ben Stokes covered fantastic throw wickets, and Pant was out of the crease at that time. Rahul and Pant, however, shared 141 runs in 198 balls for the fourth wicket and strengthened India’s hold on the match.
On the first day of the match, Pant, who was struggling with the pain of injury in the finger while wicketkeeping, expressed his intentions in the first over of the day.
He played an aggressive shot from above the cover area using steps after scoring four runs after leaving the first ball on the first ball of the day. From the other end, Rahul made a simple start and batted. In the early overs of the day, where the Indian batsmen were playing vigilance, England’s bowling also saw a lack of sharpness.
During this time, the bowlers of England bowled 31 consecutive dots. Pant took a run on dot balls with one run in the 51st over of the Indian innings, while Rahul sent a brilliant on drive against the cars after hitting the next ball and sent the ball for four runs.
He pressurized England bowlers with a hat -trick fours in the next over of this bowler. England implemented the plan for Shubman Gill’s batting time against Pant and put the wicketkeeper close to the fast bowlers, but when the Indian wicketkeeper started taking an aggressive stand, his stakes weakened.
Pant was hurt on the finger off Stokes during this time but continued batting after treatment with Physio. India started the day by 145 runs for three wickets and added 52 runs in the first hour.
England then demanded to change the ball which the umpires accepted but their bowlers did not benefit. Pant completed his half -century against Stokes by hitting a six over the fine leg. He hit the second six of his innings by Shoaib Bashir’s ball. Language edited by: Sudhir Sharma
