Yashasvi Jaiswal enhanced his reputation as an all-conditions opener with a gutsy hundred on a tough pitch before Washington Sundar’s whirlwind fifty allowed India to set a record 374-run target for England on an absorbing day three of the final Test on Saturday.
Jaiswal (118 off 164) rode his luck to complete his sixth Test hundred while the other significant contributions came from nightwatchman Akash Deep (66 off 94), Washington (53 off 46) and Ravindra Jadeja (53 off 77), who has been phenomenally consistent with the bat this series.
The highest successful chase is 263 at The Oval but with the way England approach their game, one would not bet against the hosts just yet, having made short work of a 378 run target against India at Edgbaston three years ago and more recently the 371 they gunned down in the series opener at Leeds.
At stumps, England were 50 for one loss in 13.5 overs with Mohammed Siraj castling Zak Crawley with a yorker at the stroke of stumps.
The pitch did not look as green as it did on the first two days but still had enough for the fast bowlers. Akash Deep got a couple of balls to jump off length in the last hour of play.
India were all out for 396 in the second innings courtesy the fireworks from Washginton Sundar displayed exemplary six hitting skills against Gus Atkinson and Josh tongue.
Having a scored his maiden Test hundred last week, Washington looked supremely confident as he put the opposition pacers to sword to swell India’s lead.
He reached his half-century by disdainfully Atkinson into the cow corner region.
In the afternoon session, a gritty century from Jaiswal helped India extend their lead to 281 runs at tea. India lost three wickets in the session but more importantly reached 304 for six at the break.
England continued to drop catches, taking their innings tally to six. Jaiswal (118 off 164), who was dropped twice on Friday, was given another life on day three. Fair to say, he made the most of the lifelines offered to him for his second hundred of the series.
Shubman Gill (11 off 9) produced two sublime fours before falling to the incoming ball once again with Gus Atkinson removing the Indian captain first ball after lunch. With that, Gill ended the series with a staggering 754 runs, just 20 shy of Sunil Gavaskar’s all time record by an Indian.
Jaiswal, who got rich rewards for playing the cut shot, was eventually caught in third man region.
Karun Nair was caught behind off Atkinson with the extra bounce surprising him.
Earlier, nightwatchman Akash Deep smashed his way to a maiden half-century, frustrating a lacklustre England and putting India in a strong position at lunch.
Resuming the day at 75 for two, India did exceedingly well to reach 189 for three at the break with Jaiswal and Akash Deep sharing a 107-run stand off 150 balls.
The India pacer, who was on four overnight, was eventually dismissed by Jamie Overton towards the end of the session via a short ball he could not control, giving an easy catch to Gus Atkinson at point.
A bowler short, England could not control the run flow against Akash Deep who slashed his bat plenty of times in the session and got away with it. A fourth catch of the innings was dropped when Zak Crawley dropped a regulation catch of Akash Deep at third slip off Josh Tongue.
The surface also played a lot better than the first two days with the ball not seaming around that much. There plenty of edges down the third man region but did not result in wickets.
Akash Deep, who had just one first class fifty to his name prior to this game, made his intentions clear in the first over of the day bowled by left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell. The Indian cleared his leg and dispatched Bethell over mid-wicket for a boundary.
Akash Deep did not hold against the fast bowlers as well, especially Atkinson. He got to his fifty with another slog off Atkinson. He was understandably fired up with his stellar effort that was duly applauded by the Indian dressing room.
Jaiswal, at the other end, was happy to let Akash Deep go for his shots. However, he did play a ramp off Overton that went for a boundary.
