London, Aug 2 (IANS) Yashasvi Jaiswal hit a gritty 118 as India extended their lead over England by 281 runs after reaching 304/6 in 71 overs at tea on day three of fifth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at The Oval on Saturday.

It was a session where honours were shared between both teams – India making 115 runs, with Jaiswal reaching his sixth Test century – incidentally the left-handed opener began his tour of England with a ton at Headingley. His knock of 118 came off 164 balls, laced with 14 fours and two sixes, held immense value as it came in front of his parents and elder brother present in the stadium’s stands.

England picked three wickets in the session, though they still have a lot to ponder in terms of their bowling effort. With Ravindra Jadeja and Dhruv Jurel unbeaten on 26 and 25 respectively, India will be aiming to pick as many runs as possible before the second new ball comes into the picture after nine overs of the final session.

The afternoon session began with a bang for England as Gus Atkinson bowled a sharp nip-backer that smacked Shubman Gill on the knee roll and trapped him plumb lbw. Gill went for the review, but there was no inside edge, as he fell for 11.

Jaiswal brought up his fourth century against England, and his second ton of this series with a hurried single through backward point. But from the other end, Karun Nair had a jittery time at the crease and couldn’t capitalise on a lifeline – a dropped catch in slips – as he was soon undone by that extra bit of bounce and nicked behind to Jamie Smith off Atkinson’s bowling.

Jaiswal and Jadeja continued to collect boundaries in a jiffy before the latter’s knock came to an end on 118 when his ramp shot was caught by backward point off Overton’s bowling. England thought they had Jadeja lbw when Tongue hit him on the boot, but he overturned it successfully on review and with Jurel hitting three well-timed boundaries, Jadeja will be the key man for India to take the lead past 350 and set England a stiff target.

Brief Scores: India 224 and 304/6 in 71 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 118, Akash Deep 66; Gus Atkinson 3-99, Josh Tongue 2-100) lead England 247 in 51.2 overs (Zak Crawley 64; Prasidh Krishna 4-62) by 281 runs

–IANS

nr/