India’s ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and debutant Jayant Yadav clinched three wickets among them as the hosts reduced England to 103/5 at stumps on the second day at Visakhapatnam.
Proceeding the innings on Day 2 at 317/4, the batting pair of skipper Virat Kohli & Ashwin could only add 34 runs on the board before Moeen Ali cut short Virat’s innings at 167. The captain edged one to the slips and gave England their first breakthrough of the day. Pumped up with the dismissal, England gained the momentum and took no time in sending Saha and Jadeja back to the hut as India were reduced to 412/7 at lunch.
Half an hour post second session, Ashwin brought up his seventh Test fifty, continuing his good form with the bat this year. After completing the 50-run partnership with Jayant Yadav for the eighth wicket, Ashwin nicked one back to Jonny Bairstow, leaving the tail to deal with against the visitors. Leg-spinner Adil Rashid then wrapped up the remaining two wickets as India were dismissed for 455 in their first innings.
In reply, Alastair Cook and young Haseeb Hammed appeared confident to start off well. But to their dislike, Mohammed Shami cleaned bowled Cook for just two, as his inswinger broke the off stump into two halves, leaving the England skipper and even the commentators surprised.
Impressed with the start, Kohli stuck with his pacers till the ninth over before introducing spin into the attack. Jadeja on one hand kept the pair on their feet with his flippers while Ashwin on the other let his spin do most of the talking. England went to tea at 34/1.
In the last session, Wriddhiman Saha showed glimpses of his class when he ran-out Hameed, giving India their second wicket of the day. Root, who looked less worried about his run-of-form, notched up his 23rd Test fifty, marching England towards a steady position.
Few overs later, Ashwin sent Ben Duckett and Joe Root packing, leaving the Poms in a deep trouble. But it wasn’t the end of the misery for the visitors as off-spinner Jayant picked up his maiden Test wicket of Moeen Ali, trapping him in-front of the wicket for just one.
With such a miserable start to their innings and considering the breaking of the cracks in coming days, Cook and co. could certainly sniff something wrong, the defeat maybe.
At Stumps On Day 2:
India 455; Virat Kohli 167(267), Cheteshwar Pujara 119(204), Anderson 3/62.
England 103/5; Root 53(98), Ashwin 2/20, Jayant 1/11.