Jadeja’s career-best swells India’s lead

Lunch India 354 for 7 (Jadeja 70*, Jayant 26*) lead England 283 by 71 runsLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Ravindra Jadeja produced one of his most mature Test innings to reach lunch with a career-best, unbeaten 70 to earn India a potentially match-defining lead of 71 on the third day in Mohali. His stand with R Ashwin was extended to 97, then he added a further 53 with Jayant Yadav to leave England with an increasingly difficult task to turn the game around.

Jadeja only had two previous fifties in Test cricket: his swashbuckling effort at Lord’s in 2014, which helped build a match-winning lead, and a brisk innings against New Zealand earlier this season which hastened a declaration. This was also the first time he had faced more than 100 deliveries in a Test innings in a display of self-restraint not always witnessed with his batting.

This was certainly not a tail-end jolly for Jadeja. On the second evening, when India had suffered a wobble of 4 for 56, he allowed Ashwin to take the lead and moved to 8 off 34 balls. He then sensed a moment to attack shortly before the new ball, but, on the third day, except for a skip down the pitch …

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