Mohali : Indian batsmen, including flamboyant and in-form skipper Virat Kohli, were made to toil hard before Ravichandran Ashwin’s counter-attacking 57 enabled the hosts to reach 271/6 at stumps on the second day of the third cricket Test here.
India are only 12 runs behind England’s first innings score of 283 after the visitors added 15 to their overnight tally of 268 for 8.
It was an intriguing day of Test cricket and hosts can claim that their nose is slightly ahead thanks to the 67-run stand for the 7th wicket between Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who also smashed a quick-fire 31 not out off 59 balls.
India’s ‘Man Friday’ was Ashwin, who again played his part albeit with the willow reaching his 9th half-century in Test cricket.
Ashwin’s sequence of scores in the series reads 70, 32, 57, 7 and 57 not out (ongoing). His innings was studded with eight fours off 81 balls. Jadeja’s knock had three fours and a six. The day’s play can be called a battle of attrition with skipper Kohli curbing his aggressive stroke-play, having read the pitch really well during his patient 62 off 127 balls.
It had nine fours and the partnership of 75 with Cheteshwar Pujara (51 off 104 balls) is the highest in the innings so far.
However, Pujara was out trying to pull a long-hop and Ajinkya Rahane’s (0) wretched form continued.
He failed to read a googly from England’s most successful bowler Adil Rashid (3/66 in 21 overs). Karun Nair (4) also had an inauspicious debut as he was run-out.
Ben Stokes (2/48) was the other successful bowler for England. Knowing Kohli’s propensity to drive through off-side, skipper Alastair Cook removed the slips and packed the cordon four fielders with his bowlers maintaining the channel.
While Kohli got nine boundaries utilising the loose deliveries, England were successful in drying up the runs. Kohli’s battle with Stokes was also another highlight of the day. At the start of his innings, Kohli hit Stokes for back-to-back boundaries.
England 1st innings
A Cook c Patel b R Ashwin………….27
H Hameed c Rahaneb U Yadav………9
J Root lbw b J Yadav………………….15
M Ali c Vijay b M Shami……………..16
J Bairstow lbw b J Yadav……………89
B Stokes st Patel b R Jadeja………..29
J Buttler c Kohli b R Jadeja…………43
C Woakes b U Yadav…………………..25
A Rashid c Patel b M Shami………….4
G Batty lbw b M Shami……………….1
J Anderson not out……………………13
Extras: (b8, lb3, nb1)……………….12
Total: (All out)………………………283
Bowling: M Shami 21.5-5-63-3, U Yadav 16-4-58-2, J Yadav 15-5-49-2, Ashwin 18-1-43-1, Jadeja 23-4-59-2.
India 1st innings:
M Vijay c Bairstow b Stokes………..12
P Patel lbw b Rashid…………………42
C Pujara c Woakes b Rashid………..51
V Kohli c Bairstow b Stokes………..62
A Rahane lbw b Rashid……………….0
K Nair run out……………………………4
R Ashwin not out……………………..57
R Jadeja not out……………………….31
Extras: (b8, lb3, nb1)……………….12
Total: (For 6 wkts)…………………271
Bowling: Anderson 16-3-36-0, Woakes 15-5-47-0, Ali 9-1-19-0, Rashid 24-4-81-3, Stokes 15-2-48-2, Batty 5-0-29-0.
Pandya, Rahul injured; released
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday announced that injured Hardik Pandya and K.L. Rahul have been released from the Test squad currently playing England.
Pandya, who sustained a blow on his right shoulder during team’s training session in the ongoing third Test here, was picked for the first time in Tests. But he didn’t play in any of the three Tests so far against England.
Rahul played the second match at Visakhapatnam in which he got injured. India won the second match to lead the five-match series 1-0.
“BCCI medical team confirms that India all-rounder Hardik Pandya sustained a blow on his right shoulder during a training session in Mohali. He has been released from the Indian Test team and will consult a specialist to decide the future course of action,” the BCCI said.
Last five innings: 0, 23, 28, 13, 1
One of India’s most dependable batsman outside the sub-continent has hit a rough patch but Ajinkya Rahane found support from teammate Cheteshwar Pujara, who backed him to come good in the coming matches. Rahane has so far totalled 63 runs from five innings at a horrible average of 12.60. Out of his five dismissals, the strange aspect has been his shot selection against spinners. One might find it strange but Rahane has been dismissed by all three types of spinners. Off-spinner Moeen Ali and left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari outwitted him at batting paradise in Rajkot. At Mohali, it was the turn of leg-spinner Adil Rasheed to add his name to the ‘Rahane Conquerors’ list.
