India tighten noose on hapless England in Hyderabad

Indian batting line-up destroy English bowling on Day Two of opening Test against England

India’s batting group put the English spin attack in perspective on Friday, piling on the runs to take a firm grip on the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.

Yashasvi Jaiswal added just four to his overnight 76 before being dismissed by Joe Root in the first over of the second day, but half-centuries from KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja (unbeaten), coupled with handy contributions from Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat and Axar Patel propelled them to a 175-run advantage with three wickets remaining.

Overnight 119 for one, India ended the day on 421 for seven with Jadeja and Axar having already put on 63 and looking good for more against a dispirited England attack that failed to make optimal use of whatever assistance there was on offer.

Jaiswal’s dismissal early in the day briefly lifted England’s spirits, Ben Stokes certainly ruing not having brought on Root’s off-spin on the first evening. But through a judicious blend of caution and aggression, India deflated English hopes, Rahul the constant in two successive half-century alliances before passing on the baton to Jadeja.

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Having swapped the wicketkeeping gloves for the No. 4 position in Virat Kohli’s absence, Rahul opened up after a cautious start, playing his strokes with abandon when England’s spinners, especially the inexperienced Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed, erred in direction. Jack Leach, the most experienced spinner, didn’t bowl as much as he should have – the left-armer sent down just two overs in the first session and his longest spell was of five overs – and while Root did ask questions with his tidy off-spin, they weren’t consistent enough or threatening enough to push India to a corner.

While India will be satisfied at having added more than 300 runs on the day, most of their batsmen must regret having thrown their hands away with the bowling at their mercy. There was turn, still slow, and as the day wore on, the bounce became a little inconsistent, but with plenty of runs still on offer, all the top five batsmen perished to catches in the infield or outfield playing strokes they didn’t connect well enough.

Jadeja and Bharat showed the top order the way as they bedded down without getting bogged down. Walking into a good platform at 223 for four, Jadeja stitched 50-run stands with Rahul, Bharat and Axar, presenting the full face of the bat, running superbly between the wickets and negating the threat of Root, England’s best bowler of the day, with sturdy defence. Where Rahul looked a gift horse in the mouth and departed to a catch in the deep off a Hartley long hop, Jadeja spent more than four hours in the middle to go to stumps at 81 – the third Indian to get into the 80s – and appearing determined to add to his tally of three Test hundreds.

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