Former India Test captain Rohit Sharma was in attendance at the Kennington Oval, London on Day 3 of the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. India put up a strong fight in the second innings. Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal helped India get ahead in the game with his 118-run knock, sixth Test century of career. After the Day 3’s play, Jaiswal revealed what Rohit signalled to him from the stands.
“I saw him, and he gave me a message to keep playing,” Jaiswal said in the post-day press conference.
For the third wicket, Jaiswal and nighwatchman Akash Deep shared a 103-run partnership. The opener lauded Deep who scored his maiden Test fifty.
“He batted really well. We wanted him to play as long as he can,” the southpaw said.
Jaiswal on Oval pitch’s behaviour
Jaiswal talked about the challenges of batting on The Oval wicket. However, he was confident of his shot-making.
“It was a spicy wicket, I was enjoying batting here,” he said. “I knew what shots to play on this surface. Mentally, I was ready to keep pushing in our last innings here. I was trying to be positive and show intent. My mentality is always like that.”
England face uphill task on Day 4
At the end of day's play, England were 50/1 as Zak Crawley was knocked over by Mohammed Siraj. They need 324 runs to script history and win the Test. But, Jaiswal is confident that India will level the series 2-2. The highest successful run chase at the venue is 263 which was achieved by England in 1902.
“There is movement off the wicket, will not be easy. We are quite confident to win,” he said.
Jaiswal thanks seniors
Jaiswal credited seniors for his knock. After Rohit and Virat Kohli’s retirement, he is learning from his opening partner KL Rahul.
“Different challenges of playing Tests in different countries, but learnt a lot from my seniors like Rohit bhai, Virat bhai. Now KL bhai, Gill. It’s amazing to discuss with them, and learn from their experiences,” said the Mumbai opener.