‘The day belongs to India’- Fans react to India’s brilliant performance on Day 3 of Rajkot Test vs England
Day 3 of the Rajkot Test belonged to India, as they tightened their grip on the match with a commanding batting performance after dismissing England for a below-par total. Resuming at 207/2, […]
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Feb 17, 2024 6:50 pm
Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal (Source – X)
Day 3 of the Rajkot Test belonged to India, as they tightened their grip on the match with a commanding batting performance after dismissing England for a below-par total. Resuming at 207/2, England’s hopes rested heavily on Ben Duckett, who had ended Day 2 unbeaten on 133. However, he could only add 18 runs to his overnight score to finish with a magnificent 151.
Ben Stokes played a valuable knock, adding 41 runs to the total but the rest of the English batting faltered, and they were bundled out for 319, thanks to a disciplined bowling effort from India. The bowling line-up, dented by the absence of Ravichandran Ashwin, who withdrew from the game due to an emergency, displayed a lot of resolve to put Stokes and Co. on the backfoot. Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the Indian bowlers, claiming 4 wickets for 84 runs. Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in with two wickets each, while Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed one each.
Speaking to the host broadcaster after the day’s play, Siraj acknowledged that the bowlers had to take responsibility in the absence of Ashwin. He mentioned that the Indian bowlers were looking to bowl dot balls and create pressure as the opposition is “not used to playing out too many dot balls in a row”.
India’s quest to claim a lead!
In response, India lost skipper Rohit Sharma for just 19 but what followed was a masterclass orchestrated by two youngsters who are seen as the future of Indian batting. The pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill injected impetus into the Indian innings as they dominated the visitors’ bowlers. The southpaw played a fluent knock, reaching his third Test century, before he had to retire hurt owing to back spasms. Shubman Gill though, ended the day unbeaten on 65 and he too will be eying a century tomorrow.
India now have a healthy lead of 322 runs and will be determined to bat time so that they can play England out of the Test match. England, on the other hand, face an uphill task and will need early breakthroughs on Day 4 to restrict India to a chasable total.
Here’s how ‘X-verse’ reacted to the day’s proceedings:
