LONDON (AP) — Brilliant play from nightwatchman Akash Deep and Yashasvi Jaiswal extended India’s lead over England to 166 runs by lunch on day three Saturday of the fifth test at the Oval.
Deep scored a career-best 66, his maiden test half-century, while Jaiswal happily switched to an anchor role and moved from 51 overnight to 85 as they led India’s second innings to 189-3.
The morning session was almost perfect for India.
The sun was out and a pitch that was spicy the last two days flattened out. England’s seam attack, down a man with , was generally feeble and grew even more impotent as the ball got older.
Deep and Jaiswal turned it all into profit.
Deep, on 4 overnight, wasn’t expected to last very long as all nightwatchmen are. But he used a license to swing away with careful abandon and couldn’t stop scoring. He racked up 11 more boundaries.
Until England got Deep’s wicket, Josh Tongue gave the home side a brief opening in the morning when Deep survived an umpire’s call on an lbw appeal and, next ball, was dropped on 21 by Zak Crawley at third slip. That was Crawley second drop of the innings.
Deep pulled Gus Atkinson twice to the midwicket fence as he passed his previous best test score of 31 against Australia in Brisbane last December, and cut Atkinson twice more to the boundary to race through the 40s.
The Oval lights came on as if to spotlight Deep, and his ninth boundary brought up his 50, which he celebrated with pumped fists. The India dressing room was on its feet and even coach Gautam Gambhir was smiling.
Deep’s 10th boundary, another off the edge, gave him his highest first-class score.
The fun ended just minutes before lunch when he looped a bouncer to backward point and gave Jamie Overton, playing his first test in three years, his first wicket of the match.
Meanwhile, Jaiswal was happy to be second fiddle to Deep after playing the risk-taker on Friday evening. Jaiswal expertly steered boundary balls twice wide of the slips off Tongue and cut Overton to the fence.
After being 51 off 49 balls overnight, he reached 85 off 106 by lunch, and was closing on his second century of the series. Beside him was captain Shubman Gill, on 11, with the ball 44 overs old.
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