Yashasvi Jaiswal's impressive century powered India to 304/6 against England at Tea on Day 3 of the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, held at the Kennington Oval in London. At the tea break, the visitors held a lead of 281 runs.
Jaiswal's innings of 118 runs off 164 balls was instrumental in India's strong position. He displayed a mix of aggression and composure, hitting 14 boundaries and two sixes. However, his innings came to an end when he mistimed an upper cut off a short delivery from Josh Tongue, finding Jamie Overton at deep backward point.
India's progress in the second session saw them add 115 runs, though they lost three wickets. Shubman Gill was dismissed early after lunch, falling lbw to Gus Atkinson. Karun Nair, after being struck on the finger and dropped, was also caught behind off Atkinson. Despite these setbacks, Jaiswal continued to dominate, reaching his century and pushing India's lead past 250.
Earlier in the day, Jaiswal and nightwatchman Akash Deep forged a crucial 107-run partnership for the third wicket. Akash Deep, in particular, impressed with a career-best 66 off 94 balls, including 12 boundaries. Their partnership helped India erase the deficit and take a significant lead.
England's bowlers struggled to contain the Indian batsmen, and their fielding was also below par, with a total of six dropped catches in the innings. This was their highest number of dropped catches in a home Test since 2006. Despite the cloudy conditions aiding some movement for the seamers, England's attack, missing the injured Chris Woakes, found it difficult to maintain consistency.
Ravindra Jadeja and Dhruv Jurel were at the crease at the tea break, looking to further extend India's lead. Jadeja survived a close LBW shout, which was overturned on review.
Several milestones were achieved during the day's play. Shubman Gill crossed the 6000-run mark in international cricket. However, he missed out on surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's record for the most runs by an Indian in a Test series. England's Joe Root surpassed Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest run-scorer of all time in Tests.
As the day progressed, the pitch was expected to deteriorate, potentially favoring India's spinners. England faced the daunting task of chasing a large total in the fourth innings to win the match and level the series.
The series currently stands at 2-1 in favor of England.
