The third Test between India and England got underway today and it turned out to be a good day for the hosts despite struggling in the first hour of the first sesson. Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja slammed centuries to revive India's innings while Sarfaraz Khan also hogged the limelight playing an impressive knock on debut before unfortunately getting run-out at the stroke of stumps. The wicket spoiled on what was a great day for India in Rajkot at the Niranjan Shah stadium.
The day began on an emotional note for India as Sarfaraz Khan got his debut cap in the presence of his father and wife alongside another debutant Dhruv Jurel. But when play started, all went gloom as England plucked three quick wickets courtesy of Mark Wood. The pacer bent his back and sent back Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill in quick succession. Rajat Patidar too was dismissed by Tom Hartley as India were reeling at 33/3.
This is when Ravindra Jadeja was sent up the order at his homeground and along with skipper Rohit Sharma, he resurrected the innings. The duo first settled their nerves while playing proper Test cricket during which Joe Root dropped the latter as well. But once they got their eyes in, there was no looking back as they added 204 runs for the fourth wicket. They made merry of the batting conditions making sure they didn't give away their wicket.
While Jadeja played conservative cricket, it was Rohit who opened his arms first taking on the inexperienced spinners of the opposition. The latter also got to his 11th Test century which was also his 47th ton at the international level much to the delight of the Indian fans. With his century, Rohit also became the oldest Indian captain to score a century in Tests while going past MS Dhoni in the list of most sixes for India in the longest format of the game.
The Indian captain looked set to score a daddy hundred before he toe edged a short ball from Mark Wood to fall in the trap on 131. Rohit threw his wicket away but not before bailing India out of the trouble and then came out the man of the moment, the debutant - Sarfaraz Khan. The 26-year-old didn't look fussed about his first match at all and after a long time, it seemed as if India found a player with assured footwork against spin bowling.
He made sure to rotate the strike and whenever he got an opportunity, Sarfaraz Khan played an aerial shot with control. There was no slogging at all during his stay even as Ravindra Jadeja stayed stuck in the 90s during the partnership. Sarfaraz reached his fifty off just 48 hitting the joint-second fastest half-century for India on Test debut. But the lovely little innings ended unfortunately as he tried getting his partner his 100th run.
Jadeja called him for a single and denied but by then, Sarfaraz had backed up a lot. Mark Wood was quick on the ball and affected a direct hit as England got a crucial fifth wicket on the day when things looked like getting worse for them. On the very next ball, Jadeja got to his 4th Test ton as he remained unbeaten on 110 alongside nightwatchman Kuldeep Yadav with India finishing at 326/5 after 86 overs. India will hope now that they manage to post a score in excess of 500 now in their first innings while England will be hoping to strike early on the second day like they did today.
