India 92 for 2 (Pujara 37*, Kohli 35*) v England
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
02:38
‘Here to give India run for their money’ – Cook
Stuart Broad and James Anderson claimed a wicket apiece with the new ball – the latter in his first spell of match bowling since August – as England made the early running in the second Test at Visakhapatnam. However, a steady stand of 70 between the senior pairing of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara had redressed the balance in India’s favour by lunch, with the pair taking the score along to 92 for 2.
By the interval, Kohli, in his 50th Test, was unbeaten on 35, a continuation of the fluent form he had shown in his matchsaving 49 not out at Rajkot last week. At the other end, Pujara, a centurion in the first innings of that same match, had another 37 to his name today, a typically measured performance that took him past 3000 Test runs. In fact, his only genuine moments of alarm arose in the space of three deliveries in Adil Rashid’s second over – when he might have been twice run out after muddled responses to his captain’s running.
England’s position at the interval was about as promising as they could have wished for in the circumstances, given that Alastair Cook, the captain, had cut an almost condemned figure after missing out on the chance to bat first on a surface that neither captain expects to last five days.
“It looks like a crucial toss to win, but that could play into our hands because now we’ve got nothing to lose,” he had said.
And, for the first hour of the contest, England lived up to their captain’s assessment. Having finished the first Test with a flurry of six wickets on the final afternoon, they quickly slotted back into that same incisive mindset, adding the scalps of both openers in the same of five overs to leave India rattled on 22 for 2.
First to go was KL Rahul, restored to the line-up after recovering from a hamstring strain sustained during the Kanpur Test against New Zealand. He was included at the expense of Gautam Gambhir, whose Test career may now be over at the age of 35, but he lasted just four deliveries before pushing with hard hands outside off at Broad, for Stokes at third slip to pouch a sharp waist-high chance.
At the other end, Anderson needed a few more sighters before finding his mark with the final ball of his third over. His inclusion had come at the expense of Chris Woakes, whom Cook was at pains to stress had been “rotated” rather than dropped, and had come ahead of schedule, given that he had not played any competitive cricket since The Oval Test against Pakistan three months ago.
Anderson’s opening over was slightly off-line, as he strained to locate his outswinger but instead found his gun-barrel-straight offerings being picked off through the leg side by Murali Vijay, who seemed in sublime touch with four fours in his 21-ball stay.
But, with Vijay lining up the drive on a seemingly unresponsive surface, Anderson responded with a devastating change-up in pace, as he banged a short ball into Vijay’s glove, for Stokes once again to mop up a looping chance to the cordon.
Kohli, displaying typical skill and temperament, responded to India’s mini-crisis with a brace of sumptuous boundaries to get off the mark against Anderson, the first of which was a rifled drive through the covers.
But England’s hopes of turning the screw on India’s middle-order stalwarts was dented when Broad had to leave the field after three overs to receive treatment to a cut on his right wrist. Stokes picked up the attack for an exploratory spell, before Zafar Ansari entered the attack in the 11th over for England’s first sighting of spin.
Though he and Rashid bowled tidy enough, there was little penetration in evidence on a surface that is playing true enough for spin and seam alike at present, but is already starting to break up in the bowlers’ followthroughs in particular.
That expectation of rough outside the left-handers’ off stump – and there are a record seven of them in England’s line-up for this Test – India have given a debut to the offspinner, Jayant Yadav, as a replacement for the legspinner, Amit Mishra. Moeen Ali, England’s own offspinner, has yet to make an appearance, but both men can expect a hefty workload as this match progresses.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo