India have gained the upper hand in the first Test against England after posting a mammoth total of 436 as Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja emerged as the stand-out contributors. Though all three of them got their eyes in and took the English bowling attack to task, they failed to reach their respective three-figure marks.
While Jaiswal got out after scoring 80, Rahul and Jadeja scored 86 and 87 respectively. The dismissals of the trio in the 80s is the first-ever instance of three Indian players getting out in the 80s in India's 92-year-old Test cricket history.
The dismissals of Jadeja, Rahul and Jaiswal in the 80s is the third overall instance of three players getting out in the 80s in the same innings of a Test match. Notably, Jaiswal was the first to be dismissed among the three but not before he smashed 10 fours and two sixes.
He batted at a strike rate of 108.10, giving India the impetus to stamp their authority on the game. He got out while trying to slap an innocuous delivery from Joe Root and ended up lobbing it straight to him.
Jaiswal's dismissal allowed England to make a comeback in the game but Rahul denied the same. The right-handed batter picked up from where Jaiswal left and cashed in big-time to score 86 off 123 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes.
But even Rahul couldn't get to his century as Rahul hit a half-tracker from Tom Hartley straight down to the fielder stationed at deep-midwicket. Rahul's teammate Jadeja was also unfortunate as he was adjudged plumb in front at an individual score of 87.
Having batted for hours, Jadeja looked poised to score a hundred but Root got the better of him in what can arguably be termed a close call.
