On Day 3 of the fifth Test at the Oval, Yashasvi Jaiswal spearheaded India’s onslaught against England on Saturday, scoring his sixth Test century off 125 balls. Jaiswal reached his second century of the series with 11 fours and two sixes. Having already scored a century in the first innings of the first Test, he has now bookended the series with hundreds.
As Day 2 came to a close, Jaiswal was dropped twice while attacking the opposition. First, Harry Brook dropped him at second slip when he was on 20. Then, when he was on 40, Liam Dawson gave him another chance, and this time, he dropped it even though the ball came straight to him at a fairly comfortable pace.
As is typically the case with nightwatchman during a first session, Jaiswal took a backseat on Day 3 and let Akash Deep to take more of the strike. Deep took a few chances, and they paid off. The two put up a 107-run stand in 150 balls, which caused England a great deal of frustration.
Jaiswal witnessed in-form skipper Shubman Gill fall off the first ball of the second session on 11 off nine balls after Deep hit 66 in 94 balls before eventually falling to Gus Atkinson in the first session. Gill finished the Anderson-Tendulkar with an amazing 754 runs in 10 innings, missing the opportunity to break Sunil Gavaskar’s longstanding record for the most runs (774) by an Indian in a Test series.
Deep benefited from England’s butter fingers just like Jaiswal did. After Zak Crawley dropped him in the slips off Josh Tongue, England’s fourth missed catch of the innings, Olly Pope, the stand-in captain, appeared to be at a loss for ideas.
Without regular captain Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, and Chris Woakes, England struggled to create swing from the pitch despite the cloudy circumstances. The floodlights were on as Deep hit a spectacular four to reach his half-century in 70 balls.
After hitting a century at Headingley in the first innings, Jaiswal had previously come close to adding to his series total of hundreds. Chasing a wide delivery, he fell to Stokes after scoring 87 of 107 balls in the first innings of the second Test match at Edgbaston.
Jaiswal’s dismissal brought an end to a solid 66-run partnership with Gill in the first innings. Gill, however, carried on with a record-breaking knock of 269 from 387 balls. In the second innings, Jaiswal fell for 28 off 22 balls, while Gill produced another stunning performance, scoring 161 from just 162 balls, leading India to a commanding 336-run victory.
