Siraj, Jaiswal, Gill put India in the front seat on Day 3 of the third Test against England

India’s youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill stole the show with their spectacular batting on Day 3 of the third Test against England at Rajkot on Saturday after speedster Mohammed Siraj wreaked havoc with the ball snapping a four-fer.

The hosts have taken a formidable lead of 322 runs and still have eight wickets in hand as they will take the field on Sunday. Jaiswal smashed his second century of this series as he plundered 104 runs from 133 balls. The left-handed Mumbai batter entertained the crowd with nine fours and five sixes. After the dismissal of captain Rohit Sharma (19), Shubman Gill, whose form has been a concern in this series, joined hands with Jaiswal to stitch a solid 161-run partnership for the second wicket. Once Jaiswal headed to the dressing room after getting retired hurt, Rajat Patidar was expected to carry the momentum. However, Patidar, who had scored just five runs in the first innings of this Test, failed for the second time in this match as he did not bother to trouble the scorers.

England spinners Joe Root and Tom Hartley have been among the wickets as they claimed Sharma and Patidar, respectively. Gill (65 not out off 120 balls) has night watchman Kuldeep Yadav (3 not out off 15 balls) for company, and the duo will begin the proceedings of Day 4 for India.

Early in the day, Indian bowlers did a fantastic job bowling out England for 319 runs. The visitors could add 112 runs to their overnight score of 207, but in doing so, they lost eight wickets. Siraj was the pick of the bowlers as he snapped 4/84. Yadav (2/77) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/51) grabbed two wickets apiece. At the same time, India’s pace ace Jasprit Bumrah (1/54) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1/37), who withdrew from the ongoing Test on Day 2 to attend to a family emergency, accounted for one scalp each.