India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series against England as they claimed a marvelous victory in the third Test on Sunday. Rohit Sharma and Co. declared their innings at 430/4, setting a huge target of 557 for England on Day 4. However, the visitors could not even inch closer as they got bundled out for 122 and India registered a thumping win by 434 runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal was India’s hero as he played a brilliant knock of 214 runs. Apart from him, debutant Sarfaraz Khan also impressed everyone, scoring back-to-back fifties.
Sarfaraz scored 62 runs in the first innings and remained unbeaten at 68 off 72 balls in the second one. His knock in the second innings consisted of six boundaries and three maximums.
In the first innings, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was promoted up the order and was sent to bat at No 5 and Sarfaraz was asked to wait. The bet worked in the favor of India as Jadeja went on to score 112 runs.
However, in the second innings, the Mumbai-based batter came and batted ahead of Jadeja and truly justified his promotion with the knock.
“For this game, we thought he has got so much experience and has got a lot of runs as well, we wanted that left-right combo, Sarfaraz being Sarfaraz and with the quality he has got, we wanted him to have time,” said Rohit during the post-match press conference.
“We saw what he can do with the bat. [on the batting order] It’s not a long-term view, we go with the flow and what we feel on that particular day, looking at the opposition, the bowling attack. We calculate everything and then go with the flow,” he added.
India and England will be squaring off against each other in the fourth Test of the five-match series from February 23 in Ranchi.
