By Shrey Siddharth
The second day of the Chennai test clearly belonged to the England. Clinical batting performance by English captain Joe Root, top order and useful contributions from lower order have put England in a dominant position in the match. Here are a few highlights from today’s play:-
Joe “The Ruthless” Root:
Joe Root continued his flawless batting form from where he’d left yesterday. He toiled with the Indian bowling attack especially the spinners. Root brought up his 5th double century in style with a six over long on against Nadeem and became the first batsman to score a double century in his 100th test match. He was dismissed for an amazing knock of 218, LBW by Nadeem.
English batsmen stand tall against the Indian bowlers:- Ben Stokes smashed the Indian bowlers towards his strong zone once he was well set. It showed he was clearly well prepared with his game in the subcontinent tracks as he swept the spinners to the boundary confidently. Butler, Pope and Bess made useful contributions with 30, 34 and 28 respectively to the total.
Resilience by Indian bowlers:- Nadeem brought India back into the game after having the prize wickets of Stokes for 82, who was caught in the deep by Pujara, and Root. When the shoulders seemed to drop, Ishant came back strongly taking 2 consecutive wickets with 2 delightfully reversing in-swingers dismissing Butler and Archer, and with that he achieved 100 wickets in India. Bumrah, Ishant, Nadeem and Ashwin had 2 scalps each. Sundar went wicketless despite creating half chances.
The pitch that was completely flat yesterday seemed to have help for the finger spinners in final session.It clearly wasn’t India’s day, which was quite evident from 37 extras they gave away out of which 19 were no balls. The fielders dropped vital catches. England finished with 555- 8 with Bess not out at 28 and Leach at 6. Can India pull off a miracle on Day 3?
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