It was known from the outset that the pitch for the second Test will assist spinners more than it did on the first couple of days in the last game, and it unturned out no different from the expectations. India were coming in this game with huge pressure on them after facing a big defeat in the first Test of the series, and there was no quick end to their misery. Shubman Gill, who according to Virat Kohli was the best Indian batsman in the first Test was proved to be inefficient by an express Ollie Stone who was picked only for his extra pace over a more reliable Chris Woakes.
Gill has always been good on judging the line of the balls, but only in the second over of the game, one back off the length moved off the pitch to find him ‘stoned’ dead in front of the stumps shouldering his arms in hope of the ball going away from the off stump line.
The next man in—Pujara, had once again the task of resurrecting the batting and he started to soak up the pressure from the one end. He was composed as usual and used his feet sparingly to combat spinners as the pitch started to explode a lot earlier than predicted.
At the other end, Rohit Sharma appeared to be batting on a completely different strip. He was severe against pacers who committed mistakes of providing him short deliveries while full balls were also dealt with immaculate placements.
He looked hungrily for runs after missing out in the first Test on the pitch as flat as a road and was in no mood to allow the bowlers, especially spinners to dictate terms to him. He was eager to sweep spinners off their lengths but was vigilant enough to not sweep from the line of the stumps. His sweeps at regular intervals kept on dragging Moeen Ali away from the off stump, and a smart Rohit was quick to pounce on with cut shots through the off-side.
Pujara looked certain, but after spending quite a bit of time in the middle, he tried to rotate strike and Root and Leach were proactive to tempt him with an open field on the off-side. Pujara was opening the face of the bat to nudge the ball in gaps for singles, but eventually, a ball turned to take the outside edge of his bat and England’s plan worked perfectly well for them.
Virat Kohli entered the fray after the first hour which threw a lot of actions with wickets falling and Rohit scoring at a rate of knots. He started with good defence but a tossed up delivery outside off stump from Moeen Ali outside tempted him to go for a big booming drive through the cover which was left vacant by Root and Moeen. Until his dismissal, Kohli had done everything correctly for his team as he finally won an all-important toss and he was delighted to bat first on the pitch he said will start crumbling fairly quickly.
Kohli went for the drive, the ball dipped, and took a puff of dust along with it to sneak through the big gap Kohli left between his pad and bat in pursuit of his signature cover drive against spinners to hit the stumps. He was so shocked that he could barely believe it and rather asked the umpires if the ball actually hit the stumps after beating him.
After Kohli’s departure, it was the moment of reckoning for the pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, who faced the ire and scrutiny of fans after the loss in the first game to bail the team out of the big hole. Rahane had defended Rohit saying his value can’t be measured by the failure in four-five innings, and he got the best seat in the ground to see Rohit justifying the huge confidence shown on him before the start of the Test.
Both Rahane and Rohit batted with authority and control as England spinners started to lose control over the line and lengths with the ball getting older, Rohit was extremely severe while Rahane was measured in his approach.
Rohit marched on to hit a critics-silencing century and with the ease, he batted in such a tricky pitch must have also exonerated him from the tag of being a ‘flat-track bully.’ He converted his hundred into a daddy hundred and never looked finished. He was willing to wait for loose deliveries which kept on coming his way courtesy of his proactiveness in the crease.
He was distraught after getting caught at the boundary after mistiming a sweep shot which he was playing the whole day with so much fence. He looked really disappointed even after scoring a mammoth 161 runs that could well be the difference between the teams on this pitch that has all in it to be called a dustbowl.
At the other end, Rahane too brought up a much-needed fifty to shed off all rounds of questions around his place in the team and the value he brings to the table for the Kohli’s side. He was decisive in his footwork and rad the lengths of the spinners well until he got out attempting to sweep a very full delivery off Moeen Ali.
England got back in the game with three wickets in the late third session of the day otherwise the game would have been lost on the very first day itself. Rishabh Pant has launched yet another assault on them and he did not look in a lot of hurry like the first Test and it appeared that he was eyeing the big opportunity of scoring on the second day.
Root’s hands were tied due to possible injury concerns to Ben Stokes who could bowl only two overs on the first day and hence the skipper had to go back to Moeen Ali again and again, albeit the off-spinner was struggling to find his length where he could bowl for a lengthy spell or even an over. Ali leaked 112 runs which could not be a satisfactory performance by any stretch of the imagination, although he got the big wickets of Virat Kohli and Rahane. He was brought into the team in place of Dominic Bess to provide control and a helpless Root had to bring himself on from one end to make good use of the turning pitch.
Root will be hopeful England will strike early tomorrow to check India running away with the game. This is not a pitch supporting 500 runs and hence anything above 350 runs will make their challenge steeper and steeper.
Root will be banking on his pacers to get the best of Pant as he does not have the leverage of too many runs on the board to keep the heat on Pant and wait for him to be found out hitting one shot too many.
All will depend on the battle between Pant and England bowler tomorrow as it will dictate the terms of the challenges of England’s challenge when they will walk out to bat.