Chasing an improbable 557, England are falling like nine pins in Rajkot. Jonny Bairstow, in the middle of a horror series, has tried a big sweep off Ravindra Jadeja, missed it altogether and has been trapped right in front. England are looking down and out at 28 for 4.
The visitors made an uncharacteristically cautious start, but miscommunication while running between the wickets led to Ben Duckett’s early exit while Jasprit Bumrah trapped Zak Crawley in front. Rohit Sharma took an excellent catch at first slip as Ollie Pope departed for just 3 off Ravindra Jadeja.
Earlier, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan caused mayhem in the second session, adding 116 runs in 16 overs before Rohit Sharma opted to declare. The Mumbai pair fired on all cylinders, sparing none from James Anderson to Joe Root in the process.
Brief Scores: India 445 (Rohit Sharma 131, Ravindra Jadeja 112, Sarfaraz Khan 62; Mark Wood 4-114) & 430/4 decl. (Yashasvi Jaiswal 214*, Shubman Gill 91, Sarfaraz Khan 68*) and England 319 (Ben Duckett 153; Mohammad Siraj 4-84) & 28/4 (Jasprit Bumrah 1-8)
Two fifties on Test debut for India
Dilawar Hussain (59 & 57) v England, 1934
Sunil Gavaskar (65 & 67*) v West Indies, 1971
Shreyas Iyer (105 & 65) v New Zealand, 2021
Sarfaraz Khan (62 & 68*) v England, 2024— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) February 18, 2024
