Day three: India 445 and 196-2; England 319England capitulate from 224 for two in Rajkot
Inherent in England’s approach under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum has been a degree of acceptable wastage, but on the middle day of the middle Test in this epic five-match series this tipped into the realms of the UK’s water companies.
As they hopped on to the team bus at 7.45am, the diem was there to be carpe’d. Ravichandran Ashwin was out of the match due to a family emergency at home, overnight chatter about a possible substitution silenced by the cold, hard reality of the ICC playing conditions. And through Ben Duckett’s sublime unbeaten century the evening before, 207 for two, in reply to India’s 445, was a stage on which to sparkle.