After missing out twice in Australia, Rishabh Pant finally got to a long-awaited three-figure score as India ended an exhilarating Day 2 of the Motera Test match. They are in a commanding position even after the England bowlers had their say in the first couple of sessions. A 113-run seventh wicket stand between Pant and Washington Sundar provided a nervous-looking Indian dressing-room breathing space after they were pushed back to 146/6 and in danger of conceding a first-innings lead. By stumps, they reached 294/7, leading England by 89 runs.
Nevertheless, barring the last few hours, the day’s play saw an enthralling battle between bat and ball. England came out energetically in the first half of the day, bowling a tight line, allowing only 12 runs in the first 10 overs. Starting the day at 24/1, both overnight batsmen – Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara – played out the initial bursts of James Anderson and Ben Stokes. The early-morning moisture on the surface helped both England pacers to move the ball around and they mixed it up with some occasional short stuff.
Jack Leach provided England the first breakthrough of the day, trapping Pujara leg before in the 24th over. This was the fourth time in this ongoing series when Pujara fell to Leach. England soon got the prized scalp of Virat Kohli when Stokes got one to climb up and the Indian skipper edged it behind to score his second duck of the series.
Rohit had stuck around at the other end, backing his defence, relying mostly on singles. He stayed behind the line of the ball and played with soft hands, against both spin and pace. Ajinkya Rahane joined him at 41/3, and provided much-needed impetus to the innings. He took on Leach and Stokes to collect a few boundaries to change the momentum. However, he was set up beautifully by Anderson and edged one to the slip cordon in the last over of the session as India went to lunch at 80/4.
Pant’s arrival to the crease increased India’s scoring rate in the second session. At the other end, Rohit put away a couple of friendly full-tosses from Dom Bess. The flow of boundaries was cut short due to a well-bowled in-swinger by Stokes that trapped him in front, one short of a well-deserved fifty.
Under some testing conditions and 38°C heat, Stokes put in a herculean effort with the ball. His team had gone into the Test match one bowler short, which meant that Stokes had to chip in as the second seamer. Not only that, he had to bowl a few additional overs to compensate the waywardness of Bess.
Just before tea, India lost R Ashwin to Leach, and the pendulum swung in England’s favour. At that point England must have hoped to restrict India to a manageable first-innings score. England even got Pant out to Bess’s off spin, but the umpire’s call saved him. Then Pant and Sundar took over.
Pant took on a tired English attack after tea, while Sundar was happy to play the second fiddle. India were in the lead. Pant smashed Root for back-to-back fours that gave India momentum just before the latter claimed the second new ball.
Anderson bowled the first over with the second new ball. Pant charged down the track to the first ball to launch Anderson over mid-off. The next ball was slapped to the cover fence. However, the most outrageous shot in this Test match – so far – came in the 83rd over. Pant reverse-swept Anderson – the ball was new – for four over slips. Even the great man was shocked at the audacity of that shot. Pant later got to his third Test ton and first on home soil with a slog-swept six against Root. However, soon afterwards, he mistimed a short ball from Anderson to short mid-wicket.
Now Sundar got into the act and managed a few boundaries. He got his half-century with a strike rate over fifty, and found support in Axar Patel as India made 141 in the final session – 71 of these came in 14 overs of the second new ball – to ensure a lead which seems decisive enough in the context of the game.
Brief scores:
England 205 (Ben Stokes 55; Axar Patel 4-68, R Ashwin 3-47) trail India 294 for 7 (Rishabh Pant 101, Washington Sundar 60*, Rohit Sharma 49; James Anderson 3-40, Jack Leach 2-59) by 89 runs at Stumps on Day 2.