India secured a commanding victory over England in the third Test, claiming a 2-1 lead in the five-match series on Sunday. Ravindra Jadeja’s five-wicket performance, along with impressive innings from captain Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, double centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal, and debutant Sarfaraz Khan, led to England’s ‘Bazball’ brand of cricket succumbing to Team India in their home conditions.
The margin of victory was a substantial 434 runs in the match held at Rajkot on Sunday.
India is now 2-1 up in the five-match series. This was India’s biggest Test win in terms of runs, surpassing the 372-run victory over New Zealand in 2021.
England started the final session at 18/2, with Ollie Pope unbeaten on the crease. Openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett could not score much.
Pope was joined by Joe Root at the other end.
However, spinner Ravindra Jadeja gave no chance to the fresh duo to breathe as he first got Ollie caught by skipper Rohit at slips for just three. Then he trapped Jonny Bairstow for just four runs, continuing his horrid run. England slipped to 28/4.
Root was joined by England’s skipper and crisis man Ben Stokes. The duo took England to 50-run mark in 21 overs. However, Jadeja gave yet another jolt to the visitors, removing Root for just seven with yet another leg-before-wicket. England had lost half their side for just 50 runs.
Kuldeep also joined the spin party, first trapping skipper Stokes leg-before-wicket for just 15 and later getting Rehan Ahmed caught at the boundary for zero. England slipped to an extremely worrisome 50/7. Tom Hartley and Ben Foakes attempted yet another rebuild for a cause almost lost.
