London: Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 118 and half-centuries from Akash Deep (66), Ravindra Jadeja (53) and Washington Sundar (53) helped India set a stiff 374-run target against England, on the third day of the fifth Test here on Saturday.
Resuming at 75 for two, India were bolstered by a second ton of the series for Jaiswal, who made 118 off 164 balls with 14 fours and two sixes, while Akash Deep smacked his maiden half-century to end with 66 off 94 balls with 12 fours.
One of the most consistent performers of the series, Jadeja then propped up the score with another vital fifty as he made 53 off 77 balls with five fours. This was his fifth half-century of the series apart from a hundred scored in a previous Test.
No team has chased a target of over 263 to win a Test at the Oval.
Sundar and Prasidh Krishna added 39 for the last wicket, of which Krishna’s contribution was zero.
Josh Tongue was the most successful bowler for England with figures of 5/125.
Ravindra Jadeja also played a useful hand, with his fifth fifty of the series, apart from a century.
Jadeja, who was yet to be dismissed in the second innings of the series until this knock, finally fell for 53 off 77 balls.
Earlier, Yashasvi Jaiswal rode his luck to make his sixth hundred in challenging conditions as India extended their lead to 281 runs at tea.
India lost three wickets in the session but, more importantly, reached 304 for six at the break.
England continued to drop catches, taking their innings tally to six.
Jaiswal (118 off 164), who was dropped twice on Friday, was given another life on day three.
Fair to say, he made the most of the lifelines offered to him for his second hundred of the series.
Shubman Gill (11 off 9) struck two sublime boundaries before falling to the incoming ball once again with Gus Atkinson removing the Indian captain off the first ball in the post-lunch session.
With that, Gill ended the series with a staggering 754 runs, just 20 shy of Sunil Gavaskar’s all time record by an Indian.
Jaiswal, who got rich rewards for playing the cut shot, was eventually caught in third man region.
Karun Nair was caught behind off Atkinson and as has been his problem, extra bounce in the corridor of uncertainty did him in.
The highest chase at The Oval is 263 and India have already made sure that England will need to chase down a record target in the fourth innings.
Earlier, nightwatchman Akash Deep smashed his way to a maiden half-century, frustrating a lacklustre England and putting India in a strong position at lunch.
Resuming the day at 75 for two, India did exceedingly well to reach 189 for three at the break with Yashasvi Jaiswal (85 not out off 106 balls) and Akash Deep (66 off 94 balls) sharing a 107-run stand off 150 balls.
The Indian pacer, who was on four overnight, was eventually dismissed by Jamie Overton towards the end of the session via a short ball he could not control, giving an easy catch to Gus Atkinson at point.
A bowler short, England failed to control the run flow against Akash Deep, who slashed his bat plenty of times in the session and got away with it.
A fourth catch of the innings was dropped when Zak Crawley dropped a regulation catch of Akash Deep at third slip off Josh Tongue.
England have so far dropped 19 catches across 10 Indian innings.
The surface also played a lot better than the first two days, with the ball not seeming to spin around that much.
There are plenty of edges down the third man region, but they did not result in wickets.
Akash Deep, who had just one first-class fifty to his name before this game, made his intentions clear in the first over of the day, bowled by left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell.
The Indian cleared his leg and dispatched Bethell over mid-wicket for a boundary.
Akash Deep did not hold against the fast bowlers as well, especially Atkinson.
He got to his fifty with another slog off Atkinson.
He was understandably fired up with his stellar effort, which was duly applauded by the Indian dressing room.
Jaiswal, at the other end, was happy to let Akash Deep go for his shots.
However, he did play a ramp off Overton that went for a boundary.
