The match starts with the debut of two hardworking youngsters (Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel) who knocked on the door of the Indian cricket team for a long time. After winning the toss, the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma decided to bat first. However, the visitors haunted the pitch for the host’s top order. In the first hour of play, India struggled to get off the mark with 33/3, but their captain, Rohit Sharma, stood firm with the local boy Ravi Jadeja and ended the day on a happy note. 

On Rajkot’s flat deck, Rohit-Jadeja, the Indian veterans, displayed their experience and put up a mammoth partnership of 204 runs for the 4th wicket. After being reduced to 33/3, India could have dropped further down, with the pressure beginning to show at the other end. A watchful Rohit began to change his arm after spending time on the pitch. However, this also resulted in a chance, but Joe Root missed a sharp one at slip when Rohit, on 27, was trying to take on Hartley. He also survived another nervous moment when he was convicted LBW against James Anderson but had it overturned on review where an inside edge was spotted.

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Rohit-Jadeja saw through the second season unbeaten, giving India some much-needed stability. The third session began with much promise for India as the duo pressed on the accelerator, with Rohit getting to his 11th Test ton.

However, just as the partnership threatened to push England out, they struck with Rohit falling to the short-ball trap and mistiming a pull-off Wood to midwicket. As England sensed an opening with two debutants slotted to follow, their hopes were trashed with Sarfaraz Khan hitting a sprightly fifty. 

The debutant was particularly aggressive against the spinners, sweeping and lofting with confidence; he scored 62 in a 77-run stand with Jadeja, with the latter nearing a hundred. The milestone played a part in Sarfaraz’s dismissal, with Jadeja calling for a quick single but then sending his partner back late. Wood, from mid-on, did not miss the direct hit and left the Indian camp frustrated even as Jadeja brought up his ton a ball later.