London, July 14: A resilient Ravindra Jadeja brought up his fourth successive half-century in Tests and dragged the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series into the final session after reaching 163/9 in 70 overs at tea on the final day on Monday.
Jadeja’s persistent efforts to put up a strong resistance while keeping a calm head, along with Jasprit Bumrah and later Mohammed Siraj being rock solid, means India need 30 runs to win, while England need one wicket to get a hard-fought victory.
The second session began with Jadeja flicking Jofra Archer for four, before Bumrah was defiant in defence and pulled the pacer for another boundary. England brought in fielders closer to stop giving singles, even as Jadeja and Bumrah hung around to delay the inevitable. Jadeja got a life on 26 when Chris Woakes trapped him lbw, but got saved as replays showed the ball’s impact was outside the line of the off stump.
To rub salt on England’s wounds, Jadeja danced down the pitch to smack Woakes over deep mid-wicket for six. In the 49th over, Jadeja took a single on the fifth ball, before Bumrah blocked Brydon Carse on the last delivery. From overs 50-54, Jadeja took a single on the fourth ball before Bumrah blocked out the remaining two deliveries.
Though the pattern was broken by a returning Shoaib Bashir, Bumrah played out a maiden against a charged-up Stokes and even managed to eke out four leg byes off Bashir to get the deficit below 50. Stokes’ 15-ball short-ball plan finally paid off when he enticed Bumrah to take on a wide short ball and substitute fielder Sam Cook caught the top-edge at mid-on to dismiss him for a 34-ball five.
It also meant that a determined 35-run stand off 132 balls between Bumrah and Jadeja came to an end. With tea break pushed back by 30 minutes, Jadeja brought up his fifty off 150 balls with a big flash over slips to get a boundary off Stokes, marking it with a muted celebration, before walking off the field for the break with an equally persistent Siraj, whoa admirably stood up to a short-ball barrage. They were met with applause from India’s fans, who now believe they are very close to seeing a miraculous win.
Brief scores: England 387 and 192 lead India 387 and 163/9 in 70 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 56 not out, KL Rahul 39; Ben Stokes 3-48, Jofra Archer 3-52) by 30 runs –IANS nr/bsk/