Cricket News: After a dominant Indian performance on day 1, England bowlers staged a much-needed fight back to get back in the game. James Anderson once again orchestrated his troops before bad light and then rain stopped play an hour before tea.
India started the day at 21 for none in reply to England's 183. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma had a very solid and resilient start. Both the openers dealt with the four England pacers with class and put together a 97 run partnership. In the last ball before lunch, Ollie Robinson dismissed Rohit Sharma for 36 runs. The opener played an instinctive hook shot straight to the fine leg fielder and threw his wicket away. Cheteshwar Pujara's bad run of form continued when he nicked James Anderson's ball towards Jos Buttler and was dismissed after scoring just five runs.
James Anderson completely disrupted the Indian innings when he dismissed captain Virat Kohli for a golden duck. Anderson's swinging full-length delivery got a healthy outside edge to send the Indian skipper back. Anderson also managed to produce an edge of the set KL Rahul's bat but the catch was dropped by Dom Sibley at 2nd slip. Ajinkya Rahane gifted his wicket to England after a run-out. KL Rahul stayed solid on the other end as he reached a much-needed half-century to mark his comeback into red-ball cricket.
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Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul added a few runs before rain intervened. Pant in classic Pant fashion tried to counter-attack getting a boundary. The play was continued shortly after but was suspended again after just one ball due to rain. After an early tea was taken rain stopped and play continued this time for two balls before it started pouring down. The day's play was called off shortly after.
The game is evenly poised at the end of day 2. With Pant and Rahul at the crease and Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur yet to bat India will be looking at a 100 run lead but Broad and Anderson will have other plans. If the conditions remain cloudy then it'll be very tricky batting conditions out there.
Player of the day: James Anderson
The 39-year-old veteran proved that he is still the main man. Anderson got rid of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli in consecutive balls to take out the spine of the Indian batting. Anderson almost got rid of eventual half-centurion KL Rahul who was dropped at second slip. England will need more of this from Anderson not just in this game but throughout the series.
