Mark Wood proved to be a terrific addition to England's playing XI as he took three of the five wickets to fall on the first day of the third Test against India in Rajkot. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and even the set Rohit Sharma were dismissed by Wood. The debutant Sarfaraz Khan had a huge challenge of negating the Wood threat and to his credit, he did to a huge extent. However, little did he know that he will fall to Wood's rocket arm after playing him out successfully when he had the ball in his hand as the 26-year-old's brilliant 62-run knock on debut came to a heartbreaking knock.
Ravindra Jadeja, the local boy, who was batting on 99, had stitched a 77-run stand with Sarfaraz with the latter scoring most of the runs during that partnership and the duo was looking to take India through without any hiccups. A misjudgement from Jadeja in the 82nd over of the innings bowled by James Anderson, saw the all-rounder call for a run as he needed just one run to complete his century.
However, Jadeja was late in realising that there wasn't a run and he took his steps back but Sarfaraz had already committed and taken a few steps out of the crease. Before he realised, it was already too late as Wood from mid-on with a direct hit caught Sarfaraz short.
Sarfaraz was disappointed and so was Jadeja as they knew that the debutant was onto something special there. The most extreme reaction came from the skipper Rohit Sharma, who reacted angrily inside the dressing room as he let out a big roar and then threw his cap in disgust, probably because the duo had stitched a really good partnership after the fall of his wicket 77 runs ago.
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Sarfaraz's father and his wife like the whole crowd at the Niranjan Shah Stadium couldn't believe what just happened before lauding the debutant's effort as he looked at ease in his very first hit.
Jadeja did complete his century but with a very subdued celebration probably feeling for the debutant. India sent in night watchman Kuldeep Yadav to play out the last few overs as India ended the day on 326/5 riding on captain Rohit and Jadeja's tons. The hosts will be keen to breach that 450-mark this time around because the pitch looks very good in Rajkot.
