Nair dominates flaccid England

James Richardson
December 19, 2016

After enduring a forgettable series to date India batsman Karun Nair hit a historic unbeaten 303 against a lackluster English attack on day four of the fifth Test in Chennai.

Nair resumed batting along with Murali Vijay this morning with 71 runs to his name and went on to record his maiden Test ton before lunch on day four.

India would have been eager to amass a huge lead in order to try and force a result with the flat track making things easy for batsmen.

Vijay (29) didn’t hang around too long with the opener possibly still feeling the effects of an injury in the field earlier in the Test.

Ravi Ashwin became the first player in over twenty years to score 250 runs and take 25 wickets in a series for India on a day full of milestones for the hosts.

Nair went passed 150 between lunch and tea as he and Ashwin put on 181 runs for the sixth wicket.

With a declaration looming in the evening session Nair accelerated racing passed 200 and closing in on the 300 mark passed which only Virender Sehwag had gone for India before.

Ashwin departed for a well played 67 with India’s lower order hitter Ravindra Jadeja taking his place out in the middle.

Jadeja smashed 51 off 55 balls but remarkably struck just one four and two sixes in his rapid knock as he fed the strike to Nair.

India went passed their highest ever Test total and eclipsed the highest total ever scored against England before Jadeja departed.

Nair would go to his triple century shortly afterwards becoming only the third man to convert a maiden ton into a triple century joining an elite group occupied by Sir Garfield Sobers and Bob Simpson.

India declared having reached a mammoth 759/7 establishing a 282 run first innings lead.

India sought to cap a record breaking day with the scalp of one of the England openers but Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings survived a tricky five overs with Jadeja and Ashwin already looking a far greater threat than England’s tweakers.