The third Test against England at Rajkot served as a reminder to the second half of India’s greatest series triumph, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia in 2020-21. At that time India were missing bowlers, this time batters. Going by stats, this was the first time since India’s first Test that they had two debutants — Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel — in the top 7.

The last time India had three batters in the top 7 with a total experience of fewer than two Tests, it was when Devang Gandhi, Vijay Bharadwaj and MSK Prasad played together against New Zealand in 1999.

Cut to 2024, India were in all sorts of trouble after opting to bat on a wicket that promised a lot of runs but were soon reduced to 33 for 3 inside the first hour of play. But a 204-run partnership between skipper Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja for the fourth wicket – India’s first century stand of the series – took them to 326 for 5 at stumps. Rohit and Jadeja got centuries while Sarfaraz made a memorable debut, slamming 62 off 66, before being run-out.

The early-morning moisture had assisted England’s new ball pair of Mark Wood and James Anderson, and to an extent helped Tom Hartley grip one in his ninth over, which took the front edge from Rajat Patidar.

On the eve of the Test, Jadeja had said England were not a difficult side to beat. The team management asked him to demonstrate it and promoted the local lad to No. 5 in the ninth over, the second-earliest he has walked in to bat in a Test innings, and the earliest in the first innings.

Coming back from possibly the first time he has missed a Test with a hamstring injury, and having to deal with a family dispute gone public, the southpaw walked the talk with ease, and dealt with the English attack with ease.

At the other end, captain Rohit Sharma, was unsure how to play the short ball probably for the first time in his career. With three top order wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (10), Shubman Gill (0) and Rajat Patidar (5), down in a flash, Rohit and Jadeja had their tasks cut out in Rajkot.

And shortly after the first hour’s drinks break, Rohit got the much-needed reprieve when Joe Root at first slip dropped an edge from the Indian captain, who managed to firefight a little with his first fifty in eight Test innings, even as Jadeja initially played the perfect second fiddle to the opener, as the hosts ended the opening session at 93 for 3.

Post lunch, Rohit became the 14th man in this series to hit a six, and it appeared that the Mumbaikar had finally got into his groove with a full display of timely lofts, some paddle sweeps, and a lot of back-foot runs. Once there was spin from both ends, Jadeja began to catch up too, hitting a six in the final over of the middle session, the first wicketless session of the series.

Immediately after tea, Rohit brought up his 11th Test hundred with two easy couple off two short balls from Rehan Ahmed. Fifty runs came in 11 overs after tea without having to break a sweat as England started to grow frustrated. Then Rohit pulled one off Mark Wood that was probably not short enough to pull, and it skidded on, got big on him, and was caught at midwicket. Rohit, eventually departed after scoring 131 off 196 deliveries, laced with 14 boundaries and three sixes.

The debutant Sarfaraz came out amid whispers of his ability to deal with high quality seam bowling, but the right-hander nipped those fears in the bud, and successfully ducked all the questions posed at him by Wood’s fiery stuff. With pace out of the way, Sarfaraz was emphatically good, and flawless with his aerial hits. Seven fours and a lovely straight six in his 48-ball fifty made his knock the second-quickest Test fifty on debut for India, behind Yuvraj of Patiala, and level with Hardik Pandya as India reached 300 for the loss of four wickets.

With Sarfaraz going all guns blazing, Jadeja decided to play the anchor’s role, and got only 12 by the time his partner got 50 runs. Also playing on the back of his mind, the four dismissals between 80 and 99, Jadeja almost became passive and almost got out on 93, had Hartley reviewed his lbw shout against the left-hander.

Jadeja finally reached 99, and called Sarfaraz through for an impossible single and sent him back with a direct throw from Wood at the non-striker’s end waiting to welcome Sarfaraz, thus ending his memorable stay in the middle as Rohit threw his cap in disgust in the dressing room. While Jadeja managed to get to the hundred next ball, the celebrations were subdued and soon the bails were off with Jadeja walking back unbeaten on 110 with Kuldeep Yadav by his side.