IND vs ENG: Rohit-Jadeja century, Sarfaraz Khan memorable innings in debut test: The third match of the five-Test series between India and England started on Thursday (15 February) in Rajkot. The first day of the match was in the name of India. Captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first and at the end of the day's play, his decision proved correct. Team India scored 326 runs for five wickets on the first day. Captain Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja played century innings for India. Whereas, Sarfaraz Khan dominated in the first innings of the debut test.
Rohit Sharma scored 131 runs. He hit 14 fours and three sixes in his 196-ball innings. Whereas, Ravindra Jadeja remained unbeaten after scoring 110 runs. Sarfaraz Khan batted in a stormy manner in the first innings of his career and scored 62 runs on 66 balls. He hit nine fours and one six. Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to the pavilion after scoring 10 runs and Rajat Patidar scored five runs. Shubman Gill could not even play the account. At the end of the day's play, Kuldeep Yadav (one run) remained unbeaten with Jadeja. Mark Wood took three wickets for England. Tom Hartley has had a breakthrough.
After winning the toss, when Team India came out to bat, it had a bad start. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a double century in Visakhapatnam, did not bat in this match. He was out on the fifth ball of the fourth over. Mark Wood got him caught by Joe Root. Wood then gave another blow to India. He sent Shubhman Gill to the pavilion on the fourth ball of the sixth over. Shubman faced nine balls. He could not open an account. Wicketkeeper Ben Fox caught Wood's ball. Rajat Patidar was out on the fifth ball of the ninth over. Patidar (five runs) was caught by spinner Tom Hartley at the hands of Ben Duckett.
After Patidar's dismissal, the Indian team management surprised everyone by sending Ravindra Jadeja to bat. Jadeja usually does not bat at number five. He proved the team's decision right and along with the captain took charge of the team. Rohit and Jadeja made a partnership of 204 runs for the fourth wicket.
| Player | Place | Years | Run |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sachin Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly | Headingley | 2002 | 249 |
| Vijay Manjrekar-Vijay Hazare | Headingley | 1952 | 222 |
| Rohit Sharma-Ravindra Jadeja | Rajkot | 2024 | 204 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin-Mohinder Amarnath | Chennai | 1985 | 190 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin-Sanjay Manjrekar | Manchester | 1990 | 189 |
Rohit completed his century at the beginning of the third session itself. This is the 11th century of his career. He has come to 15th position in terms of scoring most centuries for India in Tests. Sachin Tendulkar scored the most centuries in this format. He has 51 centuries to his name. Rohit has scored his first century in Test since July 2023. His previous century came against West Indies in July. Then he played an inning of 103 runs at Windsor Park.
Ravindra Jadeja scored the fourth century of his Test career. His bat always worked in Rajkot. He has so far scored 1564 runs in first-class matches on this ground. In 12 matches at this ground, he has six centuries and four half-centuries to his name. His highest score is 331 runs. Jadeja also completed three thousand runs in Test matches during his innings. He is the third player to score three thousand runs in Tests as well as take at least 200 wickets. Former captain Kapil Dev has taken 434 wickets apart from scoring 5248 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin has 3271 runs and 499 wickets in his name.
Sarfaraz Khan came to bat after Rohit Sharma was out in the third session. He looked nervous on the first few balls. When some runs came off his bat, he started attacking the England bowlers. You can gauge his fast batting from the fact that when he came to the crease, Jadeja had scored 84 runs and when Sarfaraz returned to the pavilion, Jadeja had 99 runs in his name. Sarfaraz completed his half-century in just 48 balls. He was unfortunate that he could not score a century.
Sarfaraz was run out shortly before the end of the day's play. Actually, Ravindra Jadeja was on strike on the fifth ball of the 82nd over of the innings. He played a shot towards mid-on off James Anderson's ball. He was on the score of 99 runs. Jadeja was trying to complete his century by taking one run. He proceeded to run and then stopped. Sarfaraz, standing at the other end, had advanced a lot. Mark Wood, standing at mid-on, hit the throw straight on the stump. Sarfaraz was run out in his first innings.
