Ollie Pope (81) and Chris Woakes (50) give England 99-run lead. Rohit - Rahul give India a solid start as India trail by 56 runs at the stumps on Day 2.
Brief Scores: India 191 and 43 for 0 (Rahul 22*, Rohit 20*) trail England 290 (Pope 81, Woakes 50, Yadav 3-76) by 56 runs
The English bowlers dominated the first two sessions on Day 1 when Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson were the pick of the bowlers for them. But it was a turnaround by the Indian pacers and Shardul’s quickfire 57 in the third session that brought India back before the end of first day’s play.
The pitch at The Oval had eased out on Day 2 post first hour of the play. But Indian bowlers had made early inroads by then. Umesh Yadav was brilliant to break the partnership early on.
Umesh Yadav adds to England’s woes in first session of Day 2 but Ollie Pope pulls it back for England
The Day 2 started off with two quick wickets of the night watchman Craig Overton and middle-order batter Dawid Malan both were dismissed by Umesh Yadav. England were in all sorts of trouble at 62 for five in 24.3 overs during the first hour of the second day’s play.
But Ollie Pope and Bairstow had some other plans. The local boy Ollie Pope who averages over hundred at The Oval and Jonny Bairstow rebuilt the innings on a positive note. They showed intent and played positive cricket. Hitting boundaries at regular intervals and putting pressure back on Indian bowlers had been the hallmark of solid 89-runs partnership.
Jonny Bairstow got out to Mohammed Siraj’s reverse swing delivery on 37 runs. This was England's highest sixth-wicket stand this year.
Bairstow got dismissed when England's score was 151 runs in the 47th over. He was the sixth man to go back to the pavilion for the English side. Ollie Pope scored 81 runs and fell to Shardul Thakur. He tried to put play an away going delivery but ended up getting an inside edge on to the stumps.
Indian bowlers bowled with discipline and bundled out England for 290 runs in first innings. The pick of the bowlers for India were Umesh Yadav with three wickets and Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja who bagged 2 wickets each. Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj also took a wicket each.
India’s bowlers were successful in dismissing the first five wickets for just 62 runs within 25 overs but for taking another five wickets it took them 228 runs and 59 overs.
Chris Woakes proves to be the nemesis for India with the bat too
The lower middle-order of England disturbed the Indian bowling a lot. Chris Woakes was one of the players who took over after Ollie Pope’s dismissal and scored a quickfire 50 runs in just 60 balls which included 11 boundaries. He was the last man for England who got dismissed through a run out by Bumrah on his own bowling.
England's last five partnerships put on 228 runs today. That's the most they've managed in Test cricket since November 2018.
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul hold India steady at 43/0
In the second innings, India’s openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul stood firm in reply to a sizeable lead of 99 runs taken by England. They scored 43 runs without losing any wicket in 16 overs. Rohit is batting on 20 and Rahul on 22 runs. With these runs, Rohit Sharma becomes the eight Indian batsmen to score 15,000 international runs. Rohit Sharma has scored 40 centuries across the formats.
On Day 3 India would like to see the first hour off without losing a wicket and equal the lead whereas England would like to make the most of the first session and take a couple of wickets to push India on backfoot. With 4 and 5th day, rain likely to play spoilsport, England would try to make pressure from the word go to get the result of the test in their favour.
Weldone.