🏏India tour of England 2025: 5th Test: Eng vs India- Oval, Day 3🏏 - Page 16

The Oval has been a dream for seamers so far on its first two days, with a nice covering of grass and very overcast conditions. The good news for India is that it is the third day, when batting is expected to be at its best, and it coincides with the brightest day of the week on the forecast. If the conditions play in their favour, India know they will have no better chance of setting up a massive fourth innings chase for the English team — and a truly massive score will be needed for England, who are such good chasers, even without their talismanic captain at their disposal.

Essentially at 52/2 with KL Rahul and Sai Sudharsan back in the hut, it comes down to the future of Indian cricket, its two best batters over recent years, as Yashasvi Jaiswal tries to find his touch after a few quiet innings struck together. He will be hoping to find able support from Shubman Gill, still to come in, who has enjoyed a phenomenal series in his first outing as captain. Nevertheless, all of it will be for nothing if the skipper can’t see his team through to a win in this Test match. Will that added pressure spur on his game, or will he falter when the lights are at their brightest?

The match will take a turn in one direction or the other by the end of day’s play today, you feel, after two fairly honours-even kind of days. For India, it is a matter of desperation to be on the right side. They were in a similar predicament in Australia earlier this year: can they do better now than on that occasion?

No Chris Woakes either for England, another boost in India’s favour, but there will need to be a lot of care and responsibility taken by the remainder of India’s batting. There is still a lot of batting in the tank: Jaiswal is already at the crease, and will want to convert his fast start into a big score after throwing away his wicket on occasion this series. Gill has yet to come out of the hut, along with Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar. That’s a lot of batting, but India will know that anything sub-300 in terms of a target will likely not be enough — and even scores in excess of that have been hunted down in their very matchup.

The sun is out at The Oval!

Live Updates Day 3: What a fine sight this is. After two days of rain interruptions and overcast conditions, the sun is out in all its glory today in London. If Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Karun Nair and the rest can’t make it count today, when will they? India has got to remember that today could well define whether they go back empty-handed or after being declared the joint-winners of the first-ever Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. If they can bat anything like they did on the 4th and 5th days of the Manchester Test, it's surely 2-2. And there's no iota of doubt about it.

Akash Deep, fancy a Ponting jab?

IND vs ENG 5th Test Live Updates Day 3: Akash Deep’s send-off to Ben Duckett has not gone down well with quite a few former cricketers. Ajay Jadeja was shocked to see this side of the Indian pacer, while Ricky Ponting's reaction was well… synonymous with Punter in his prime. When asked whether he would have given Akash Deep a quick right-arm jab had the Indian quick done that to him, Ponting did not hold back, saying he probably would have. After dismissing the England opener, Akash stopped him, put his arms around Duckett's shoulders and mouthed a few words, actions that left Atherton and Karthik unimpressed as well.

What is with Mohammed Siraj without Jasprit Bumrah?

IND vs ENG 5th Test Live Updates Day 3: There are certain versions of players that need no introduction. Virat Kohli, while chasing, VVS Laxman, while batting in the fourth innings, sixes guaranteed with Chris Gayle in his pomp, and the incredible performances of Mohammed Siraj in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. Every time India is without Bumrah, Siraj steps up, and like he did in Edgbaston, with a six-wicket haul, the India pacer produced, quite arguably, the spell of his Test career yesterday. He finished with 4 wickets, but his spell after lunch was a story in itself.

What happened between Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna?

IND vs ENG 5th Test Live Updates Day 3: India pacer Prasidh Krishna and England batter Joe Root had an argument, and judging by their looks and expressions, those weren’t pleasantries by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Root gave Prasidh a piece of his mind, telling him not to act over-smart. This unexpected outburst took Prasidh by surprise, who, by the way, was the first to sledge the England great. Things are surely boiling out there, and it would be safe to say that we haven’t seen the last of it.

Can Shubman Gill make history? 34 the magic number

IND vs ENG 5th Test Live Updates Day 3: Shubman Gill’s date with destiny comes down to his last innings of the series. For decades, the most runs in a single series by an Indian batter has been Sunil Gavaskar’s 774 vs the West Indies. 54 years later, Gill sits on 743. In his first series as captain, he has the chance to do something truly spectacular. Of course, it is only a subplot, but one to keep an eye on.

India will have the option to use the roller again. One would assume they would opt for the heavy press unlike yesterday to even it out a bit for the first few overs for the batters. But the Dukes ball is possibly in its prime condition to dart around. Will be a massive test for India. A test of technique, more importantly a test of mental strength and ability to break it down into blocks and make gritty progress. A target of 270+ is a minimum one feels. A good first session could seal the deal for England. Which way is this heading? That's one question that none of us have found answers to throughout the series until the last hour of each Test. That's how fascinating this series has been.

kaig : "what do you reckon a good score here is to defend? will India be happy with a lead of 300? I doubt it but yeah that should be enough if India bowl well!" -- I would think any target above 270-280 could be very tough to chase.

Anup: "There is every possibility that today will be the last day of this compelling series." -- If it gets a bit cloudy, there is every possibility of wickets falling quickly. Of course, India will want to bat for as long as possible. And right now, it looks sunny at the ground, but there are some clouds hovering. Stuart Broad is at The Oval and says that the weather is looking lovely, but there will be movement off the pitch.