The big story: Ashwin gets breakthrough on the fifth ball of the day

India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin struck in the first over of day two to send back Ben Stokes for six. Pacer Ishant Sharma soon added to England’s woes removing Jos Butler for five, leaving England at 328 for seven.

England had resumed the day on 284 for four after Moeen Ali led the charge on day one of the fifth and final Test match with an unbeaten knock of 120 in Chennai on Friday. He was later dismissed for 146 on Saturday morning.

Ali stitched together a 146-run partnership with Joe Root to get their team out from a precarious position at 21/2. Ali started off shakily, he was dropped by KL Rahul on nought and added 58 to the partnership.

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Root was dismissed on 88. Despite Root’s departure, Ali stood his ground and held England’s innings together. He contributed to another crucial stand, this time with Jonny Bairstow. Ali added 37 in the 86-run partnership.

Bairstow was dismissed on 49 but Ali, to his credit, held England’s innings together on his way to a fine century, just before the end of the day’s play. It was a patient knock, that included eight boundaries.

Other top stories

  1. India’s fielding coach R Sridhar came down heavily on India’s fielders, after day one of the fifth Test that saw a couple crucial chances dropped. After KL Rahul dropped Moeen Ali, while Parthiv Patel missed a stumping as Jonny Bairstow, Sridhar admitted that the catching was not up to scratch. “I would agree that our catching, especially close-in catching off pacers behind the stumps, has not been up to scratch this series. We have set the right standards for the last two years and this particular series, things haven’t gone our way,” Sridhar said.  
  2. Australia skipper Steve Smith and Peter Handscomb posted centuries to lay the base before the pacers ran riot to bowl out Pakistan for 142 and handing Australia a first-innings lead of 287 in the first day-night Test at the Gabba. Handscomb (105) produced his maiden Test century, Smith scored 130 to lift the total to 429. In reply, Pakistan failed to show much fight as Josh Hazlewood (3/19) and Mitchell Starc (3/45) ran though the visitors’ batting line-up.
  3. The Supreme Court dismissed the curative petition filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India against the its verdict which disallowed the Board officials from acquiring commercial interest in events like the IPL and Champions League. “We have gone through the curative petition and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra & another. Hence, the curative petition is dismissed,” a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices JS Khehar and Dipak Misra said. 
  4. Virat Singh and Saurabh Tiwary helped Jharkhand take the first-innings lead over Odisha on the second day of their final Group B Ranji Trophy clash at the St Xavier’s ground in Thumba. Chasing Odisha’s first innings total of 152, Jharkhand were helped by an early let-off. Tiwary was dropped on 5. The Jharkhand skipper made most of the chance and scored 65, but was forced to before retiring after injuring himself suring the knock. Virat scored 57. The duo’s half centuries took Jharkhand to 236 for 5 and handed them a lead of 84.  
  5. South African teenage cricketer Shania-Lee Swart scored 160 in a domestic Women’s Twenty20 game even as the rest of her team failed to add a single run to the team total. Playing for Mpumalanga under-19 in their match against Easterns under-19 at Pretoria, Swart helped them post 169 for eight in 20 overs, the other nine runs coming from extras. She later scalped two wickets for 21 as his side beat Easterns by 42 runs to clinch a comfortable victory.