Some rear-guard action by England’s Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson tipped the scales back in their favour in the second session of Day Two of the fifth and final Test against India in Chennai on Saturday.
Dawson (55 not out) and Rashid (60) added a 108-run stand for the eighth wicket to take England to 452 for eight at Tea.
It was a maiden Test fifty for Dawson, who is making his debut in the game. The partnership is England’s highest eighth-wicket stand in India.
India, who had struck thrice in the morning session, were left frustrated as Dawson and Rashid formed a sound resistance.
India’s bowlers failed to find much purchase from the wicket that appeared to still have plenty of runs in it. India’s star bowler Ravichandran Ashwin went into the Tea break with figures of 1 for 132.
Umesh Yadav finally got the breakthrough in the 145th over as Rashid nicked one to the keeper to bring his fighting knock to a close. But it appeared a tad late in the day as England had by then were well on their way to a 450-plus score.
Earlier, things got heated up in 111th over as Ravindra Jadeja collided with Rashid. Rashid tapped one off Jadeja and ran for a quick single. Jadeja while running after the ball ran close to the batsman and appeared to have shoved him.
Both players seemed fine after the collision, but Jadeja appeared to have been winded a bit as he clutched his right side. He was taken off for a few minutes but came back on soon enough.
Brief scores:
England 452/8 (Adil Rashid 60, Liam Dawson 55 not out; Umesh Yadav 2/68) vs India.
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