India opener KL Rahul would be utterly disappointed as he played a rash shot while batting on 199 runs to be dismissed one run short of his maiden double ton against England on Day 3 of the fifth Test match on Sunday in Chennai. However, it was his innings which played an important role in India compiling 391 runs, in reply to England's 477 runs in their first innings.
Rahul's two solid 150 plus runs partnership first up with Parthiv Patel and later with Karun Nair, who is unbeaten on 71 runs, also played an important role in helping India score a good total on Day 3. Right from the first session of the day, India looked in good control of the Test.
Rahul and Parthiv started India's innings on Day 3 with 60 runs on the board, and they consolidated on that good start from Saturday to add some important runs in the first session. Both the players were playing some aggressive cricket, and Patel lost his wicket for 71 runs a few overs before lunch.
After losing Patel, Rahul completed his ton in the second session, but he was not receiving great support from the other end as in-form players Cheteswar Pujara and Virat Kohli did not have a good day with the bat, scoring 16 runs and 15 runs only.
With two quick wickets, England got back into the game and were looking to take more wickets, but Rahul and Nair regained control of the innings with some solid batting. The England team might have sensed they could get into the lower-middle order early when Nair walked into bat as the right-hander was not impressive in the last two Test matches.
Nair was under pressure to deliver in the fifth Test match, and the Karnataka batsman delivered the goods when required. Nair looked comfortable against the seamers as well as the pacers and played the ball as per its merit, and as he gradually got his eye in, he hit some majestic shots in the middle to score his maiden half-century as well.
Rahul, on the other end, was cruising towards his double ton, but an unfortunate dismissal while going after a wide ball lead to his downfall, one run short of 200 runs. That was the major highlight in the last half an hour of the day as India finished the day with 391 runs on the board.
Murali Vijay, who did not open the innings due to a shoulder injury, came into bat after the dismissal of Rahul. The right-hander and Nair are in the middle for India, and the duo will resume Day 4 with the Karnataka batsmen eager to score his maiden ton.
