Indian batsmen continued to frustrate the English bowlers as the team reached 342 for five in its first innings at lunch on the second day of the opening cricket Test here on Thursday.
Thanks to Murali Vijay’s 146—run knock and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unbeaten 81 (147 balls, seven fours), India were placed comfortably in the game.
Ravindra Jadeja (24 off 18 balls) was giving Dhoni company with the duo sharing an unbeaten 38 runs for the sixth wicket.
The day began with Vijay (122) and Dhoni (50) looking to push the score from the overnight 259/4 and help India attain advantage on a placid wicket in the first innings itself. But James Anderson (3—95) and Stuart Broad (1—34) had other plans as England’s two lead bowlers spent the morning hour in testing every limit of the batsmen’s defences.
Broad opened the proceedings and was on the money immediately, bowling five overs for a mere eight runs. He beat Dhoni’s bat so many times that it was almost a surprise that the Indian skipper was still at the crease at lunch.
The Indian skipper was also helped by keeper Matt Prior who dropped a simple catch in only the third over of the day, when the batsman was on 52 and to his credit, he didn’t offer another straight opportunity to affect his dismissal.
Anderson, at the other end, too tried hard and tested the two batsmen with some swing, but the duo persisted and brought up its 100—run partnership for the fifth wicket in the 11th over of the day and the 101st of the innings.
When the two bowlers finally went off the attack, things became easier once again for the batsmen, much like the first day.
Although there were a couple of interesting LBW shouts in between, Ben Stokes (0—65) and Liam Plunkett (1—65) were ineffectual at best, which is a big worry for the hosts in a five-Test series crammed up in 40—odd days.
Vijay then slowly progressed towards the 150-run mark but he was trapped LBW by Anderson but when he was just one scoring shot away in the bowler’s second spell of the morning.
TV replays suggested that the ball might be travelling over the stumps, but the umpire’s finger had gone up and the Indian opener walked back after a heroic score of 146 runs. He had faced 361 balls during his superb innings and batted for 467 minutes, nearly 8 hours, hitting 25 fours and 1 six.
Jadeja was the next batsman in, coming in ahead of Stuart Binny, and he made good use of Moeen Ali’s (0—70) spin, hitting a boundary and a six to get going.
Skipper Alastair Cook duly took off his slow-bowling option then and Jadeja settled down to make sure that there was no further loss of wickets going into the break.
Scoreboard:
India 1st innings (overnight 259 for four)
Murali Vijay lbw b Anderson 146
Shikhar Dhawan c Prior b Anderson 12
Cheteshwar Pujara c Bell b Anderson 38
Virat Kohli c Bell b Broad 1
Ajinkya Rahane c Cook b Plunkett 32
MS Dhoni not out 81
Ravindra Jadeja not out 24
Extra: (LB—7, W—1) 8
Total: (For 5 wkts; 118 overs) 342
Fall of wickets: 1—33, 2—106, 3—107, 4—178, 5—304.
Bowling: James Anderson 30—10—95—3, Stuart Broad 24—11—34—1, Ben Stokes 24—5—65—0, Liam Plunkett 27—7—65—1, Moeen Ali 12—0—70—0, Joe Root 1—0—6—0.
