
India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal has continued his purple patch during the ongoing Test against England as he brought up his second ton of the series on Saturday (Feb 17). Jaiswal, having scored a double hundred in the Vizag Test continued his splendid run with another impressive outing in Rajkot. The Mumbai batter has taken Test cricket by storm in the last 12 months and his exploits with the bat have now put India in a strong position in the third Test.
Batting in the hot conditions of Rajkot, Jaiswal scored his fourth Test hundred by hitting a four on the final ball of the 39th over in the mid-off region to Mark Wood. Having made his debut in July 2023 against West Indies, the 22-year-old had adopted life well in the red-ball format as he scored another ton for Team India.
It took Jaiswal 122 deliveries to complete his ton as he led from the front against a resolute English attack. India at the time of writing were 172/1 with Shubman Gill batting at the other end. India lost Rohit Sharma early when he was dismissed for 19 as the hosts made a poor start to their innings. Rohit was leg-before on 19 as Joe Root got the better of him in the 12th over.
After scoring his hundred, Jaiwal experienced back pain and even received some treatment in the middle. However, the batter then decided to withdraw and retired hurt on 104 and returned to the pavilion after the conclusion of the 44th over. The back issue adds more woes to Team India as they are already without Ravichandran Ashwin who had withdrawn from the remaining Test match on Friday due to personal issues.
England started the day at 207/2 but lost Ben Duckett (153) early in the first session while Root (18) and Jonny Bairstow (0) also departed cheap. India entered Day 3 with no Ashwin as the spinner withdrew from the match due to personal reasons. In the second session of Day 3,India bowled out England for 319 with the visitors adding just 112 runs to their overnight total. Mohammed Sirajscalped four wickets while Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja also bagged a couple of wickets for the visits.
At the end of England’s innings, India had a lead of 126 runs as they now have an iron grip over the contest after a good start to the second innings.