IND vs ENG scorecard, 3rd Test, day 2 highlights: England in command after Ben Duckett's blistering hundred against India

It was England’s day in Rajkot during the third IND vs ENG Test match. Firstly it was the England bowlers, who wrapped up the hosts for 445 runs in their first innings, then it was the ‘bazball’ by Ben Duckett that put the hosts on the backfoot at the end of Day 2.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma remained the highest scorer of the Indian team in the first innings and scored 131 runs from 196 balls with 14 fours and 3 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja turned out to be another centurion and debutant Sarfaraz Khan also impressed with his aggressive batting and scored 62 runs from 66 balls.

Continuing to bat from their overnight score of 326/5, India lost both their overnight batsmen in the space of just five runs. Kuldeep Yadav was dismissed by James Anderson for 4 runs, whereas Ravindra Jadeja walked back for 112 runs from 225 balls and fell against Joe Root. After the dismissal of both the overnight batsmen, India were rescued by Dhruv Jurel and Ravichandran Ashwin.

England in command after Ben Duckett’s counterattack

That’s Stumps on Day 2 in Rajkot!

England move to 207/2, trail by 238 runs.

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Dhruv Jurel and Ravichandran Ashwin added 77 runs from 175 balls for the 8th wicket and helped the hosts cross the 400-run mark. Jurel showed some grace on debut and played an innings of 46 runs from 104 balls and smashed 2 fours and 3 sixes during his stay at the crease. Ashwin also played a cameo innings of 37 runs from 89 balls, whereas Jasprit Bumrah contributed 26 runs from 28 balls.

In the end, India were wrapped up for 445 runs in their first innings. Mark Wood was the most successful England bowler and picked up 4 wickets followed by Rehan Ahmed, who ended the innings with 2 wickets. James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir, and Joe Root picked up 1 wicket each.

England were off to a decent start as openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett added 89 runs for the first wicket. Crawley played an innings of 15 runs from 28 balls and was removed by Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin picked up his 500th wicket in Test cricket and became the 2nd fastest bowler to achieve the milestone.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩! 👏 👏

Take A Bow, R Ashwin 🙌 🙌

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On the other hand, Ben Duckett played with an aggressive mindset and smashed a hundred from 88 balls. He also became the fastest English batsman to smash a hundred on the Indian soil. Apart from putting up a decent first-wicket partnership, Duckett also added 93 runs from 102 balls for the second wicket. Pope was playing well but he was caught in front by Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj for 39 runs from 55 balls.

At the end of the day, England were at 207/2 in 35 overs and they are currently scoring nearly 6 runs an over. Ben Duckett was unbeaten on 133 runs from 118 balls with 21 fours and 2 sixes, Joe Root on the other end is not out on 9 runs from 13 balls.

England would want to continue their aggressive approach against India on Day 3 and get past India’s first innings total as soon as possible. The Indian team, on the other hand, will want to take early wickets and remove Ben Duckett at the start of Day 3.

Brief Scores

India: 445 ( Rohit Sharma: 131, Mark Wood: 4/114)

England: 207/2 (Ben Duckett: 132*, Ravichandran Ashwin: 1/37)