Chennai: India made a strong reply reaching 60 without loss at stumps on day two after England had scored 477 in their first innings in the fifth Test between the two sides at the Chepauk here Saturday. KL Rahul (30 batting, 68b, 3×4) and Parthiv Patel (28 batting, 52b, 2×4), opening in place of Murali Vijay who had hurt his shoulder while fielding, handled the England pace and spin attack with aplomb.
Earlier, England resuming the day at 284 for four, slipped to 321 for seven before debutant Liam Dawson (66 n o, 148b, 5×4, 1×6) and Adil Rashid (60, 155b, 8×4) scripted a rescue act with a stand of 108 runs for the eighth wicket to take the visitors to a position of comfort. Dawson, who did not give even a semblance of a chance, in the process, became the highest scorer for a debutant batting at No. 8 for England.
Overnight batsman Moeen Ali (146, 262b, 13×4, 1×6) and Ben Stokes (six) started for England, but did not survive against the pace-spin combo of Umesh Yadav (2/72) and Ravi Ashwin (1/151). Ali was put in a lot of discomfiture by the Indian pacers who bowled a lot short to him. There were a couple of top edges, some body blows and some tentative prods as the left-hander progressed to 146, before failing to keep down an attempted pull off Yadav. Running in 20 metres from the deep mid-wicket boundary, Ravindra Jadeja completed the catch to a nicety.
But before his departure, Ali watched as Stokes and Jos Buttler (five) were dismissed in quick succession. Suddenly, England were again under pressure of being bowled out for less than 400.
That they did not do so was because of Dawson and Rashid. The latter’s hitting ability is well-known, but Dawson displayed an amazing array of shots for a No.8 batsman playing only his first Test. He played some spanking cover drives of the pacers, used his feet well against the trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Amit Mishra (1/87) and also ran his ones and twos brilliantly.
Skipper Virat Kohli suddenly seemed bereft of ideas as the two went on attack after lunch, with Mishra suffering the most at the hands of Rashid. The England leg-spinner took a liking to his Indian counterpart and repeatedly used his feet to hit Mishra in that arc between square-leg and mid-wicket and picked up three boundaries in the bowler’s 19th over.
The good thing about this Indian attack is that it has a lot of variety. Just when Rashid seemed like taking control, Yadav forced him to nick one and Patel behind the stumps completed an easy catch.
However even then, the tail in the form of Stuart Broad (19) and Jake Ball (12) wagged a little to take England to 477 before Mishra ended the innings with a googly which Ball failed to read and was bowled.
Rahul and Patel were never in any problems against the England attack. Rahul played some languid drives, while Patel was firm on anything short and punched square of the wicket. They look good for many more when the game resumes, Sunday.
Agencies
