Sarfaraz Khan‘s good run since he made his Test debut continued on Friday with his third half-centiry in five innings. After consistent performances in domestic cricket and much wait, Sarfaraz Khan made his Test debut in Rajkot and scored half-centutres in both the innings. In Dharamsala, on the second day of the fifth Test against England, Sarfaraz Khan 56 off 60 balls. His entertaining knock consisted eight fours and one six.
However, just when it looked likr, Sarfaraz was going to get a big score, he fell on the first ball of the third session to Shoaib Bashir. Sarfaraz was caught by Joe Root at slips as his late cut went wrong. Before that, Sarfaraz Khan and Devdutt Padikkal had struck a 95-plus stand. After Sarfaraz’s dismissal, India lost wickets in quick succession.
Former Indian cricket team captain Sunil Gavaskar was not satisfied with the attempt by Sarfaraz Khan.
“The ball was pitched up; it wasn’t short enough for that shot. Goes for it and pays the price. I mean you are playing the first ball after tea. Give yourself a little sighter. Don Bradman said to me ‘Every ball that I face, even if I am on 200, I think I am on 0.’ And here is [Sarfaraz] is… playing such a shot first ball of the session,” Gavaskar said during commentary in JioCinema.
England mounted a comeback in the final session of the second day with a clinical bowling performance but India’s resilient tail end kept the hosts in front in the final Test at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Friday.
At the end of the day’s play, India posted a total of 473/8 on the board, leading by 255 runs with Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah unbeaten with scores of 27(55) and 19(55) respectively.
Shoaib Bashir lifted England’s spirits by removing set batter Sarfaraz Khan (56) with his off-spin on the first ball of the final session.
Devdutt Padikkal on the other end went on to raise his bat after completing his maiden Test fifty with a maximum and received thunderous applause from the dressing room as well as the crowd.
India crossed the 400-run mark in the 91st over and looked unfazed in the following overs. The Somerset spinner managed to find a breakthrough by getting better of Padkikkal (65) with extra bounce and sharp spinning delivery.
Dhruv Jurel came in looking to stitch up a partnership alongside Ravindra Jadeja. The pair managed to survive for the next seven overs before India lost a flurry of wickets.
Bashir struck once again and removed Jurel (15). The young batter’s dismissal opened the gates for a comeback as India ended up losing Jadeja (15) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0) in a span of two overs.
Kuldeep and Bumrah put up an unbeaten 45-run stand to once again push England’s back against the wall.
With ANI inputs
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