Rahane And Pujara Tries Hard With Century Partnership But Wood and Ali Creates Hope For England

London: Heated exchange of words between Indian Captain Virat Kohli and England Fast bowler James Anderson was heard on Sunday, the fourth day of the second Test match at Lord’s.It is evident that on Monday when the players of both the teams will come on the ground the heat will be at its peak as all three results are possible on the last and fifth day. India can win, England can win or draw can also be not ruled out. The story at the end of the fourth day’s play is, India in its second innings has scored 181 runs for the loss of 6 wickets and has a lead of 154 runs. Yesterday England got a lead of 27 runs. Rishabh Pant (not out 16) and Ishant Sharma (not out 4) are at the crease. Nobody can predict, right about what will happen on the last day? India would like to make few more runs as well as spend time so that they do not lose the match. On the other hand, England would like to wrap up the Indian innings as soon as possible, so that they get enough time to score the required runs for a win.

On Sunday The mainstay of Indian batting was two batsmen who were facing a lot of criticism for not scoring runs in the past many innings. Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara batted with guts and were involved in a century partnership for the fourth wicket when India was in deep trouble losing three wickets for 55 runs. Top Batsmen K L Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were back in the dressing room. Cheteshwar Pujara (45) stayed at the pitch like a solid rock for 208 minutes and faced 206 ball, hit 4 fours. While going forward, he was surprised by Mark wood’s extra fastball that bounced from the length and forced him to give a catch to Joe Root.

The partnership was broken and Rahane also could not stay and gave a catch to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler off Moeen Ali. Rahane made 61 runs on 146 balls with 5 fours. At that time total was 167, ten more runs were added to India’s score and man in form, Ravindra Jadeja(3) was bowled by Moeen Ali, this was a big blow. Now, the ones on Rishab Pant. How he bats with the four fast bowlers and how far they can take the Indian total.

England’s most successful and experienced fast bowler James Anderson did not get a wicket in the second innings so far, Mark Wood got three wickets and Moeen Ali got two wickets.

Brief Score:

India first innings: 364 All out in 126.1 Overs ( K L Rahul 129, Rohit Sharma 83, Virat Kohli 42, and Ravindra Jadeja 40, James Anderson 5/62. Robinson 2/ 73, Mark wood 2/91).

England first innings: 391 All out in 128 overs  (Joe Root Not out 180, Jonny Bairstow 57, Rory Burns 49, Moeen Ali 27, Jos Buttler 23, Dom Sibley 11, Mohammed Siraj 4/94, Ishant Sharma 3/69, Mohammed Shami 2/95).

India second innings: 181 for 6( Ajinkya Rahane 61, Cheteshwar Pujara 45, Rohit Sharma 21, Virat Kohli 20, Rishabh Pant not out 16, Ishant Sharma not out 4, Mark Wood 3/40, Moeen Ali 2/52).

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