England dominate Day 2 of the third Test against India

England, known for their Bazball style of cricket, scored at almost six runs per over on Day 2 of the third Test against India at Rajkot on Friday as they cruised to 207 runs for the loss of just two wickets in 35 overs after bowling out India for 445.

England’s opening batter, Ben Duckett (133*; 118 b, 21×4, 2×6), was the star performer of the day with the bat as he muscled his third Test century. The southpaw paired with his opening partner Zak Crawley (15) to stitch a fluent 89-run partnership that came off just 79 balls to give a solid start. However, Ravichandran Ashwin played the spoilsport as he dismissed Crawley, who became his 500th Test scalp.

Later, Duckett joined hands with Ollie Pope (39) to put together 93 runs for the second wicket before Siraj got the better of Pope. The visitors may have lost a couple of wickets but will be happy with how they approached their innings at the end of the day. With Duckett and Joe Root (9*; 13b) to resume the proceedings on Day 3, England will fancy their chances of wiping off the 238 runs deficit and taking a healthy lead.

Early in the day, England bowled out India, who added 119 runs to their overnight score of 326. Mark Wood was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped 4/114, with Rehan Ahmed claiming 2/85. James Anderson (1/61), Tom Hartley (1/109), and Root (1/70) were the other wicket-takers.