Vizag: England were left with a mountain to climb after India made 455 in their first innings before returning to blow away the tourists’ top order on a spin-dominated second day of the second Test on Friday.
England reached 103 for five, trailing India by 352 runs, at stumps with all-rounder Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow unbeaten at the crease.
The touring side were rattled in the third over when paceman Mohammed Shami breached captain Alastair Cook’s defence with an incoming delivery that split the left-hander’s off-stump in two.
Joe Root and young opener Haseeb Hameed survived a hostile spell of bowling from the Indians to add 47 for the second wicket before the latter was run out on 13 by some smart work from wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
England’s batting mainstay Root, who hit a century in the previous test in Rajkot, made 53 before he fell to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who also picked up the wicket of Ben Duckett.
Debutant off-spinner Jayant Yadav picked up his maiden wicket with a review after Moeen Ali advanced and then padded the ball away.
England were 80-5 at that stage, but Bairstow, unbeaten on 12 and Stokes ensured there was no further damage. Stokes was not out on 12 and survived when a delivery from Yadav kissed, but did not dislodge, his bail.
Earlier, Ashwin scored his second half-century of the series to guide India to a strong first-innings score. Ashwin scored 58 and added 64 for the eighth wicket with Yadav (35) after England off-spinner Moeen had claimed three quick wickets to peg back the hosts. Resuming the second day on 317-4 in the first ever Test match in the port city of Visakhapatnam, captain Virat Kohli and Ashwin added 35 in a fifth-wicket stand.
Stokes failed to hold on to the straightforward chance from Ashwin but made amends with the very next ball.
ScoreBoard
India (1st innings): M. Vijay c Stokes b Anderson 20, K.L. Rahul c Stokes b Broad 0, C. Pujara c Bairstow b Anderson 119, V. Kohli c Stokes b Ali 167, A. Rahane c Bairstow b Anderson 23, R. Ashwin c Bairstow b Stokes 58, W. Saha lbw b Ali 3, R. Jadeja lbw b Ali 0, J. Yadav c Anderson b Rashid 35, U. Yadav c Ali b Rashid 13, M. Shami (not out) 7. Extras: (B 4, LB 5, W 1) 10.
Total (all out in 129.4 overs) 455.
FoW: 1-6, 2-22, 3-248, 4-316, 5-351, 6-363, 7-363, 8-427, 9-440, 10-455
Bowling: Anderson 20-3-62-3, Broad 16-2-49-1, Stokes 20-4-73-1, Ansari 12-1-45-0, Rashid 34.4-2-110-2, Ali 25-1-98-3, Root 2-0-9-0.
England (1st innings): A. Cook b M Shami 2, H. Hameed (run out) 13, J. Root c U Yadav b R Ashwin 53, B. Duckett b Ashwin 5, M. Ali lbw b J Yadav 1, B. Stokes (batting) 12, J. Bairstow (batting) 12. Extras (B-4,
LB-1) 5.
Total (For 5 wickets in 49 overs) 103
Fow: 1-4, 2-51, 3-72, 4-79,
5-80.
Bowling: Shami 8-2-15-1, Yadav 6-1-14-, Jadeja 15-3-38-0, R Ashwin 13-5-20-2, J Yadav 7-3-11-1.
