Skipper Joe Root and Rory Burns recovered England from early setbacks to reach 118 for three in their first innings in reply to India’s 364 all out at stumps on the second day of the second Test against England at Lord’s, London on Thursday.
Root (48 batting) and Burns (49) shared crucial 85 runs for the third wicket after Mohammed Siraj (2/34) dismissed Dom Sibley (11) and Haseeb Hameed (0) in successive deliveries in the 15th over, immediately after tea.
England vs India 2nd Test, Day 2 as it happened: Root stands strong again to keep hosts in the hunt
But then Root joined hands with Burns to resurrect the home team’s innings with their vital partnership.
Burns, however, departed a run short of his fifty, LBW to Mohammed Shami (1/22).
Thereafter, Root and Jonny Bairstow (6 batting) played cautiously to end England’s day without any further damage.
India added just 88 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Veteran seamer James Anderson was the pick of the bowlers for England with figures of five for 62.
After both teams gathered on the outfield to mark ‘Red for Ruth Day’, a cancer charity event in honour of Ruth Strauss, the late wife of former England captain Andrew Strass, India resumed on 276-3.
Rahul had batted in largely difficult conditions throughout the whole of Thursday’s first day to be 127 not out.
But having scored two off Friday’s first ball, from Ollie Robinson, Rahul mistimed a drive, a shot he had played so well on Thursday, off the seamer’s next delivery low to Dom Sibley at short cover.
It was the end of a more than six-and-a-half hour innings of 250 balls that included 12 fours and a six.
It gave Robinson, in just his third Test, a second prize wicket in this innings after removing India captain Virat Kohli for 42 with the new ball late Friday.
India’s 278/4 soon became 282/5 when Ajinkya Rahane, looking a shadow of the batsman who scored a Test hundred at Lord’s in 2014, fell for his overnight one when edging Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, to Root at first slip.
One consolation for India was they now had two attacking batsmen at the crease in Rishabh Pant and Jadeja.
Pant signalled his intentions by driving his second ball, from Robinson, down the ground for four.
He had made a typically brisk 37, including five fours, when he edged a cut off a wide ball from fast bowler Mark Wood, recalled after Stuart Broad suffered a series-ending calf injury, and was caught behind by opposing wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
India’s 331/6 then became 336/7 when Mohammed Shami fell for a duck after tamely chipping off-spinner Moeen Ali to midwicket.
The five-match series is levelled at 0-0 after the rain-marred opener ended in a draw at Nottingham.
Brief scores:
India 1st Innings: 364 all out in 126.1 overs (KL Rahul 129, Rohit Sharma 83, Virat Kohli 42; James Anderson 5/62).
England 1st Innings: 118 for three in 45 overs (Rory Burns 49, Joe Root 48 batting; Mohammed Siraj 2/34).
(With AFP and PTI inputs)
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