England's innings in the third Test at Rajkot started with 5 runs already on the board, as Team India was penalised after Ravichandran Ashwin stepped on the protected area of the patch while he was batting in the first inning.
The penalty was issued after India had already exhausted their first and final warning when Ravindra Jadeja also had ran on the protected area on the first day of the Test. The runs were awarded in the 102nd over after umpire Joel Wilson spoke to Ashwin, who was visibly unhappy with the penalty.
As per the law, the protected area refers to "that area of the pitch contained within a rectangle bounded at each end by imaginary lines parallel to the popping creases and 5 ft/1.52 m in front of each, and on the sides by imaginary lines, one each side of the imaginary line joining the centres of the two middle stumps, each parallel to it and 1 ft/30.48 cm from it".
As per law 41.14, the law regarding the damaging of the pitch by any batter, "It is unfair to cause deliberate or avoidable damage to the pitch. If the striker enters the protected area in playing or playing at the ball, he/she must move from it immediately thereafter. A batter will be deemed to be causing avoidable damage if either umpire considers that his/her presence on the pitch is without reasonable cause.
"If either batter causes deliberate or avoidable damage to the pitch, other than as in 41.15, at the first instance the umpire seeing the contravention shall, when the ball is dead, inform the other umpire of the occurrence. The bowler's end umpire shall then warn both batters that the practice is unfair and indicate that this is a first and final warning. This warning shall apply throughout the innings. The umpire shall so inform each incoming batter, inform the captain of the fielding side and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of what has occurred.
"If there is any further instance of deliberate or avoidable damage to the pitch by any batter in that innings, the umpire seeing the contravention shall, when the ball is dead, inform the other umpire of the occurrence.
"The bowler's end umpire shall disallow all runs to the batting side, return any not out batter to his/her original end, signal no-ball or wide to the scorers if applicable, and award 5 penalty runs to the fielding side."
Team India posted 445 on board in the first inning, thanks to some key performances by various batters. The inning started on a slow note for India as they lost 3 quick wickets with just 33 runs on the board. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja then took the baton in their hand and built a strong partnership, completing their centuries in the process. While Rohit scored 131 off 196 balls, Jadeja smashed 112 runs off 225 balls.
Debutant Sarfaraz Khan also announced his entry with a bang as he scored a quick half-century on his Test debut, smashing 62 runs off just 66 balls. Dhruv Jurel, who is also made his debut in the game, fell short by 4 runs for his half century but contributed significantly in building a strong total by adding 46 runs.
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