Half centuries from Rahul and Jadeja, India lead by 175 runs

1 of 1

Hyderabad. With the brilliant half-centuries of KL Rahul (86) and Ravindra Jadeja (81 not out), India tightened its grip on England by scoring 421 runs for seven wickets in its first innings and taking a huge lead of 175 runs on the second day of the first Test on Friday. . The third session of the second day was entirely in the name of India. In the first session, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s wicket fell in the very first over but Rahul and Shreyas Iyer handled the innings, then the partnership between Jadeja and Rahul flourished. Like Jaiswal, Rahul also missed out on a century. But Jadeja has formed a good partnership with Bharat and now Akshar. Jadeja is definitely heading towards a century. India started the second day at 119 runs for one wicket. India batted well throughout the day, adding 302 runs and losing six wickets. England’s bowling was ineffective and its spinners could not leave any mark. Apart from Rahul and Jadeja, yesterday’s unbeaten batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 80 runs while playing ahead of 76 runs, while Shubman Gill scored 23, Shreyas Iyer scored 35 and Shrikar Bharat scored 41 runs. Akshar Patel is supporting Jadeja by scoring 35 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin was unfortunately run out after scoring one run. Rahul hit eight fours and two sixes in his innings of 86 runs on 123 balls, while Jadeja hit seven fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 81 runs on 155 balls. At tea time on the second day, India reached 309 runs at the loss of 5 wickets in 76 overs and added 112 runs in the final session. Despite losing the wickets of Rahul and Shreyas Iyer in the second session, he scored 87 runs in 26 overs. Like the morning session, England started the afternoon session with wickets in hand. Leg spinner Rehan Ahmed’s googly was caught by Iyer with a slog-sweep straight to deep midwicket. But Rahul continued his good work in the morning and hit fours on the leg spinner. It didn’t stop there as Rahul picked Rehan’s length well. Came forward on the pitch to hit a six over long-on and pulled on the backfoot for another maximum over midwicket, giving India the lead. The 65-run partnership between Rahul and Jadeja ended when Rahul had Rehan caught at deep midwicket off a short ball from Ahmed. Rahul’s dismissal ended his high-class innings of 86 runs in 123 balls. This was the fifth time that an Indian batsman was out while trying to play an aggressive shot. After that England finally managed to get some control on the runs in the last 30 minutes. The Jadeja-Bharat partnership for the sixth wicket added only 21 runs in 11.1 overs till tea. But in the final session, India batted a little openly. Earlier in the morning session, Rahul scored his 14th Test half-century. At lunch, India’s score is 222/3 in 50 overs. Although India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, the session belonged to India, which added 103 runs in 27 overs, of which 63 runs came between Rahul and Iyer for the fourth wicket. In the morning, Joe Root, who did not bowl a single ball on the first day, got the wicket of Jaiswal with the fourth ball of the session. Jaiswal added four runs to his overnight total of 76 before he was deceived by the pace and flight and Gave a return catch to Root. England almost got the wicket of Rahul at zero, but Ben Foakes missed a difficult chance off the ball of Root. But Rahul hit back-to-back fours through on-drives off debutant Tom Hartley, before he turned his wrist to sweep Root through backward square leg for the boundary. Shubhman Gill struggled to get forward and was constantly defending in front of his body and was unable to rotate the strike. In an attempt to relieve the pressure, Gill took a skid but Ben Stokes lost track of the ball while running back from mid-on. His very tentative innings, particularly against spin, ended for 23 when he flicked one straight to mid-wicket, giving Hartley his first Test wicket. Mark Wood was given a short spell to trouble Iyer but he failed to do so, with Rahul hitting three fours on him through the inside edge, square punch and a controlled pull. England captain Ben Stokes brought back Hartley and Rehan Ahmed, the latter being able to trouble Iyer with his leg-breaks. But whenever both of them made a mistake, the right-handed batsman took advantage and blasted Hartley’s short ball for six runs. He then hit two fours off Rehan and hit another four through extra cover to Root. From the other end, Rahul brought up his half-century in his 50th Test match, the highlight of his innings was his ability to score runs with ease against the spinners and his willingness to switch between back-foot and front-foot to keep the scoreboard moving . Brief scores: England 246 runs in 64.3 overs, India 421/7 in 110 overs (Yashaswi Jaiswal 80, KL Rahul 86, Ravindra Jadeja 81 not out, Srikar Bharat 41, Axar Patel 35 not out; Joe Root 2/77, Tom Hartley 2/7) 131) –IANS

read this also – Click to read the news of your state/city before the newspaper.