Rajkot, Feb 15 (UNI) India extended the recovery after lunch as Captain Rohit Sharma neared his century against England on Day 1 of the third Test at Niranjan Shah Stadium here on Thursday.
At Tea, India were 185/3 with Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja batting on 97 and 68, respectively. This was for the time in the series, no wickets have fallen in a session.
Rohit and Jadeja put an unconquered 152 runs for the fourth wicket after India suffered three early blows inside 10 overs.
Rohit and Jadeja have been brilliant as they have put an unconquered 152 runs for the fourth wicket after India were tottering at 33/3 inside 10 overs.
After seeing off the threatening spell from Mark Wood and James Anderson, the duo batted magnificently and forced England to fetch the ball on a pitch that flattened out the post-lunch session.
After opting to bat first, India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rajat Patidar cheaply, and India were looking down the barrel at 33/3. But Jadeja’s promotion to No.5 worked as he gave solid support to his captain.
Rohit stepped up and cracked a very crucial half-century after missing out in the first two Test matches.
The ball has reversed as early as the 10th over and England pacers led by James Anderson and Mark Wood, bowled well.
Earlier, Rohit won the toss and opted to bat on a pitch that already had cracks, which is expected to come into play for bowlers from Day 3.
However, India were dealt with three blows in a span of 49 balls.
Jaiswal (10), the double centurion at the Visakhapatnam Test, was the first blow India suffered. The Mumbaikar started with a delectable straight drive for a boundary but lost his wicket to Wood when he jabbed at a ball angling away from him.
Wood also dismissed Gill, who scored a century in Visakhapatnam, for a duck, sparking a debate over his poor form. He got a thick edge to an away-going ball to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.
Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley tasted his first blood after Captain Ben Stokes introduced him inside the first 10 overs.
Hartley bamboozled Rajat Patidar (5) as a ball held in the pitch for long and deceived the Indian batsman, who got a leading edge to the short cover fielder Ben Duckett when he was batting on 5.
However, Rohit and Jadeja brought India back into the game with a dogged unbeaten 56-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
The Indian captain however was lucky on a couple of occasions. A snorter from Wood brushed his grill and survived a leg-before shout off Anderson as review detected a thin inside edge. A while after, Joe Root squirted a difficult catch at first slip off Hatley when Rohit was on 27.
India made four changes to their XI as they handed Test debuts to Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan.
