At the end of second day’s play, India scored 146 for 1. The only wicket hosts lost was in the form of KL Rahul, who was bowled by Moeen Ali on 24. This means spinners had ruled the roost by claiming all 11 wickets so far which has been spread over six sessions and that’s incredible.
With Murali Vijay at 70* off 169 and Cheteshwar Pujara 47* of 102 balls, both looked solid against English seamers and spinners and put on a 107-run unbeaten partnership. England fast-bowlers had bowled short and far wide, though being economical and they need to find the right length to keep Indian batters in check on the third day of the Test.
Although, it was been an encouraging Day 2 for both teams as England scored 400 runs after their tail-enders put some crucial partnerships in their first innings of the penultimate Test on Day 2 of the post-lunch session with Jos Buttler, who looked solid, was the last man to go on the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.
The idea of dismissing the visitors around 350 was downplayed by Buttler and the Jake Ball as they played Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja sensibly when there was lot on offer on the second day.
As the ball tuned sharply on the second morning of the Test match, the spinners got a chance to sting English batters.
The left-arm spinner on the second day picked Chris Woakes (11), Adil Rashid (4) and Jos Buttler (76) to settle with the figures off 4 for 109, who had claimed a wicket of English captain Alastair Cook (46) on Thursday.
The stellar performance came from off-spinner Ashwin, who picked overnight batting all-rounder Ben Stokes (31) and equaled former Indian skipper Kapil Dev’s record of 23 five-wicket hauls and ended with splendid figures of 6 for 112.
“It is pretty special for me. It’s difficult to bowl on this wicket but so far so good.” Ashwin said while speaking to Sanjay Manjrekar after the day two at stumps.
Earlier, at lunch, England were 385 for 8 after resuming their day on 288 for 5. And later when India came to bat, the scorecard read 62 for 1 at Tea.
Stokes was given a life by umpire we he turned down the appeal for a catch which was later overturned after a review was taken by Indian skipper Virat Kohli. In 31 overs in the morning session, England added 97 runs to pile on some runs.
During the tea time, ICC had given out an update on umpire Paul Reiffel.
Reiffel was hit by Indian paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the back of his head while throwing the ball from the boundary line. The 50-year-old Australian was shifted to hospital as third umpire Marais Erasmus from South Africa was forced to replace him for the on-field duty on Thursday during the second session of the Test match.
“Paul Reiffel underwent precautionary tests yesterday, which came back all clear. Paul, however, has been advised to rest, which is the normal course prescribed following a concussion.” ICC update came when players were coming out for the tea on Friday.
“As such, he will not take any further part in the Mumbai Test and has been replaced by Marais Erasmus,” it added.
It would be exciting to see how both teams would go from here on, as the match has been evenly poised with England already going down 2-0 in the five-match series.
Brief Scores:
England 400, India 146/1 (52 ov)
Day Two Stumps – India trail by 254 runs