Visitors reach 67/1 at stumps; need 332 runs for win
Visakhapatnam: Set an imposing target of 399 to beat India in the second Test at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, England ended day three’s play at 67/1 in 14 overs.
Though India are very much in the ascendancy, there remains the outside chance of England completing an improbable chase through their Bazball style of playing Test cricket. Ben Duckett made 28 in a fifty-run opening stand with Zak Crawley before being dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin.
Crawley remained not out on 29, alongside the promoted Rehan Ahmed, who’s unbeaten on nine, with England needing 332 more runs for an astonishing victory in what is the toughest challenge of the Bazball era so far. No team has ever made 300 in a fourth-innings chase in India and England’s challenge also includes a pitch with variable bounce, as well as Joe Root’s right little finger injury.
With 14 overs left in the day, Duckett and Crawley took two boundaries each off Mukesh Kumar, though Bumrah got the new ball to talk and ask questions of the openers. Crawley was quick to slog-sweep Kuldeep Yadav for six, followed by Duckett taking two fours off him via sweeps.
But Ashwin struck by ending Duckett’s stay with a drifting-in delivery which he bat-pad to wicketkeeper K.S. Bharat, who dived forward from his usual keeping position to take a diving catch. Crawley then drove Ashwin down the ground for four while Rehan took two boundaries off Axar to end an engrossing day of Test cricket.
Previously, riding on Shubman Gill’s third Test century, and some important contributions from Axar Patel and Ashwin, India’s second innings ended at 255 in 78.3 overs. IANS
Scoreboard
India : 1st innings 396, England: 1st innings: 253
India: 2nd innings:
Yashasvi Jaiswal c Root b Anderson 17
*Rohit Sharma b Anderson 13
Shubman Gill c Foakes b Bashir 104
Shreyas Iyer c Stokes b Hartley 29
Rajat Patidar c Foakes b Ahmed 9
Axar Patel lbw b Hartley 45
Srikar Bharat c Stokes b Ahmed 6
R Ashwin c Foakes b Ahmed 29
Kuldeep Yadav c Duckett b Hartley 0
Jasprit Bumrah c Bairstow b Hartley 0
Mukesh Kumar not out 0
Extras: 3; Total: 255-10
FOW:Sharma (29-1, 6.4), Jaiswal (30-2, 8.3), Iyer (111-3, 27.1), Patidar (122-4, 31), Gill (211-5, 56), Patel (220-6, 60), Bharat (228-7, 64.4), Yadav (229-8, 65.5), Bumrah (255-9, 77.4), Ashwin (255-10, 78.3)
Bowling:
James Anderson 10 1 29 2
Shoaib Bashir 15 0 58 1
Rehan Ahmed 24.3 5 88 3
Joe Root 2 1 1 0
Tom Hartley 27 3 77 4
England: 2nd innings: Target 399
Zak Crawley not out 29
Ben Duckett c Bharat b Ashwin 28
Rehan Ahmed not out 9
Extras: 1; Total: 67-1 (14)
FOW:Ben Duckett (50-1, 10.5)
Bowling:
Jasprit Bumrah 5 1 9 0
Mukesh Kumar 2 0 19 0
Kuldeep Yadav 4 0 21 0
R Ashwin 2 0 8 1
Axar Patel 1 0 10 0
Also Read: Former India coach Ravi Shastri warns Shubman Gill: ‘Don’t forget, Pujara is waiting’
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