Openers put England on top after Pant’s heroics

Manchester: Half centuries from Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley have put England in a commanding position after skipper Ben Stokes took his first five-wicket haul in eight years on day two of fourth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Old Trafford on Thursday.

At stumps, England reached 225/2 in 46 overs and trail India by 133 runs. Stokes’ 5-72 helped England bowl out India for 358 – with Rishabh Pant coming out to bat and making a courageous 54 despite a fractured right foot - a knock that will be remembered for ages to come.

Duckett (94) and Crawley (84) then put on a superb opening partnership of 166 off 195 balls to rattle India - falling before reaching their respective centuries. But with Joe Root and Ollie Pope unbeaten on 11 and 20 respectively, England will be confident to get a big score and take a first innings lead.

The final session started with Crawley thumping three boundaries, before he and Duckett reached their fifties in 73 and 46 balls respectively. Despite Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja brought into the bowling attack, there was no stopping boundaries as Crawley continued to play his shots with immaculate ease.

India finally had a breakthrough on the last ball of the 32nd over when Crawley edged a turning ball from Jadeja and KL Rahul took a low catch at first slip, as he fell for 84 off 13 balls. Duckett also smacked three boundaries off Mohammed Siraj, before missing his century when he chased a short and wide delivery from Anshul Kamboj and nicked behind to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel to give the pacer his first Test wicket.

Root and Pope then took the watchful route, with the former surviving an lbw appeal off Jasprit Bumrah due to the ball’s impact being outside of stumps. The duo ensured that England didn’t lose any more wickets in the last 30 minutes before the day’s play ended in their favour.

Previously, Pant, who retired hurt on 37 after the painful blow to the foot on day one, added 17 more runs to India’s total and that meant they managed to cross 350-run mark. The second session began with Washington Sundar getting a healthy edge off Stokes for four, before he hooked a short ball from Chris Woakes to deep fine leg and fall for 27 off 90 balls.

Stokes completed his first five-wicket haul in eight years when his outswinger took an edge of Kamboj’s bat and was caught safely by Jamie Smith. Pant finally got the timing right when he nailed a pull off Archer for six and reached his 18th Test fifty in 69 balls by reaching out to Stokes’ wide ball and sent it cracking through cover for four.

But for the second consecutive time, Archer sent Pant’s off-stump on a cartwheel ride, as hit gutsy knock came to an end at 54 off 75 balls and received rousing reception from the spectators.

Siraj and Bumrah hanged around to hit a boundary each, before the latter swung a leg-side delivery off Archer and the ball was caught by Smith. After Root persuaded to go for a review, that proved to be a shrewd move as a nick was detected and resulted in India’s innings coming to an end, with Archer taking 3-75.

Skipper Ben Stokes previously led the way for England with 5-72 as they bowled out India for 358 in 114.1 overs. For India, vice-captain Rishabh Pant astonishing everyone by coming out to bat despite a fractured fifth metatarsal in the right foot, hit a brave 54 off 75 balls – a knock which will be talked for ages to come.

Brief Scores: India 358 in 114.1 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 61, Yashasvi Jaiswal 58; Ben Stokes 5-72, Jofra Archer 3-73) lead England 225/2 in 46 overs (Ben Duckett 94 not out, Zak Crawley 84; Ravindra Jadeja 1-37, Anshul Kamboj 1-48) by 133 runs. IANS

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