IND vs ENG scorecard, 2nd Test, day 3 highlights: Shubman Gill, Ravichandran Ashwin put India in a commanding position

Day 3 of the ongoing second Test of the five-match series between India and England took place on Sunday (4th February) at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. The day belonged to the hosts as they were on the top with bat and ball and are looking favorites to win the game.

India didn’t have a great start with the bat as James Anderson was all over the batters with the new ball. He first sent skipper Rohit Sharma with a Jaffa on 13 runs before removing Yashasvi Jaiswal for 17 runs in the first session of the Day 3 in Vizag.

With India reeling at 30/2, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer joined hands together and bailed the team out of trouble. They added 81 runs for the third wicket and soaked in all the pressure. However, Iyer couldn’t go big as he perished to Tom Hartley for just 29 runs to continue his horrible run in Tests.

After Iyer got out, debutant Rajat Patidar too couldn’t play long innings and perished for just 9 runs. Gill (104) on the other hand returned to form and slammed a magnificent century, silencing all the critics.

The batter along with Axar Patel (45) tilted the game in India’s favour. Gill and Patel added 89 runs together and helped India take a lead of over 300 runs on board. They would’ve wanted to play big innings but unfortunately fell in quick succession of time. India was reduced to 220/6 after both the set batters got out.

England spinners then made sure they didn’t let Indian batters settle at all. They picked wickets quickly and put the hosts under pressure. Ravichandran Ashwin looked good to eyes and played a vital hand of 29 runs but didn’t get the desired support from the other end.

The Rohit Sharma-led side were bundled out for 255 runs, setting visitors a target of 399 runs to chase. For England, Tom Hartley was the pick of the bowlers with his figures of 4/77. Apart from him, Rehan Ahmed also bagged three wickets, and James Anderson got two scalps.

IND vs ENG Scorecard, 2nd Test, Day 3 Highlights: Shubman Gill and Ravichandran Ashwin put India in a commanding position

England were off to an aggressive start in their chase. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett took an attack on the Indian bowlers and smashed them all over the park. They added 50 runs for the opening partnership and put the hosts under pressure in the last innings.

They were going great guns before Ravichandran Ashwin brought India back into the game. The off-spinner sent Ben Duckett back for 28 runs during the fag end of the innings. Rehan Ahmed (9*) came out to bat at No.3 along with Zak Crawley (29*) and made sure that they didn’t lose any more wickets.

At stumps on Day 1, England was 67/1. They are still 332 runs behind whereas the Rohit Sharma-led side are 9 wickets away. With the things panned out today, it promises to be an enthralling Day 4 of the game.

Brief scores:

India 2nd innings: 255-10 (Shubman Gill 104; Tom Hartley 4/77)

England 2nd innings: 67-1 (Zak Crawley 29*; Ravichandran Ashwin 1/8)