When Yashaswi Jaiswal shimmed down the track off the second ball of the day, high-elbowing a Joe Root delivery over long-on for a boundary, it felt like the left-hander would continue in the same vein as Day 1. But the England skipper Ben Stokes’, for a change had made a smart decision to start with Root and one delivery after that Jasiwal shot, Root brought in a short mid-off tempting the batter to go over the top. Jaiswal did what Root had in mind, but the ball hit the inside part of the bat and flew back to the bowler. Caught and bowled, and Jaiswal was walking back after facing four deliveries on Day one, a missed opportunity to his maiden hundred at home. Day 2 had started well for England.
Had Stokes started with Root or at least given him a few overs on Day 1, the damage England took could have been mitigated. Off the final delivery of that over, the former England captain induced a faint edge off new batter KL Rahul but Ben Foakes, the wicketkeeper, was slow to react. Rahul survived and then went on to clobber England batters en route to a magnificent 86 off 123. In the company of Shreyas Iyer, Rahul put on a stand of 64 runs and then with Ravindra Jadeja, added 66 runs to pummel England into submission.
Even though Rahul missed out on a well-deserved century, Jadeja (), with his 20th Test fifty ensured that India reached 421/7 the close of play with a sizable lead of 175 runs over the visitors and in complete control at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium, Uppal.
Despite starting with Root, Stokes continued to put the faith in debutant Tom Hartley, who was taken for over seven runs per over on Day 1, and once again that allowed Indian batters to settle in nicely. Rahul got his eye in with back-to-back fours off the spinner – both fuller deliveries that deserved to be put away. Even though, Gill, at the other end, looked tentative at best he managed to rotate the strike. Root in his four-over spell troubled Gill more than what Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach could, yet Stokes pulled Root inside the first half hour of play.
By the 10th over, Hartley had something to smile about as Gill tried to waft a fuller length delivery on middle towards midwicket rather than trying to play straight and found the safe hands of Ben Duckett at midwicket. Gill’s struggling innings ended at 23 off 66 balls, and with that extends his run of not reaching the fifty run-mark to ten innings. And with each passing Test inning, Gill is looking more and more out of the water.
While Gill was guilty of playing across the line on a track that had some deliveries slowing down, Rahul was straighter with his shot selection on fuller deliveries, while anything marginally short, he rocked back on the backfoot like a dream to cash in. One shot that stood out was when he executed a backfoot punch off Mark Wood’s short-of-length delivery timing to perfection. That shot, off the 47th delivery he faced showed he well had he assessed the pace of the pitch and knew what was needed to be done. He would get two more boundaries in the one Wood over itself – one a lucky undercut and another an improvised paddle hook, but against spinners, Rahul was in control. Seldom was he beaten on either side of the bat and with the England spinners failing to consistently land the ball on that good length area, it was easy pickings for the stylish middle-order batter. With two sixes of one Ahmed over, Rahul helped India take the lead and reach 250 in the 57th over.
It is rather surprising that with the class Rahul possesses, he only averages around 34 in Tests. One of the reasons for that is for the majority of his 50 Tests he has opened the innings, mostly in tough overseas conditions. But today, he was batting at a new position – No.4 – in Virat Kohli’s absence and if there was ever a statement to be made, today’s innings was that. Not that he was facing a high-quality attack, but the intent and composure he showed in equal measure to dictate the terms to the England batters once again showed that he is somebody who can soak in the pressure and counterattack with ease. He could have very well added his second century at home and ninth overall, but a Hartley long hop did not come onto his bat as quickly as he would have liked and was holed out at midwicket by Ahmed.
While Rahul grabbed his opportunity, like Gill, Shreyas Iyer squandered his. For the 63 deliveries he was in the middle, Iyer surprisingly was troubled by the spin of Ahmed. Otherwise an authoritative stroke-maker against the spinners, Iyer, unlike Rahul, failed to read the pace of the pitch and often prodded forward to deliveries he would have driven well on any other day. Yet, such was the England bowler’s lack of penetration, even on a bad day Iyer managed to score at a fair clip. The frequency of short deliveries from Hartley meant Iyer found the fence a few times as well but, in a bid to clear the one on the on-side, he dragged one Ahmed fuller length delivery towards midwicket only to find Hartley. He made 35.
It became more and more baffling with Stokes’ usage of Root only for short spells while he persisted with Hartley and Ahmed for longer spells. Both would end the day with an economy of 5.24 and 4.56, respectively. Leach, the only specialist bowler to have played a Test previously in India was relegated as the fourth bowler in this line-up. He would bowl only two overs in the first session, seven in the second and seven in this third session.
With the wicket of Rahul and a lead of only 42, England would have thought they had the opening. But Jadeja had settled in by that time and he, as has been the case in recent years, played a vital and matured lower-order knock laced with furious running between the wickets. With England’s main spinners not able to replicate what Root was doing, Jadeja got quick runs added 68 runs with and Srikar Bharat (41) for the sixth wicket. With Axar Patel (35*) Jadeja has now added 63 for the eighth wicket. At the close of play, he had moved to 81 off 155 balls, with a fantastic opportunity to get to his 4th Test hundred and third in India on day three.
Brief Scores: India 421/7 (KL Rahul 86, Yashaswi Jaiswal 80, Ravindra Jadeja 81*; Tom Hartley 2/31, Joe Root 2/77) lead England 246 (Ben Stokes 70, Ravindra Jadeja 3/88, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/68) by 175 runs.
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