London, (Asian independent) Skipper Joe Root defied Indian bowlers (48 not out off 75 balls) as England went to stumps at 119/3 on Day 2 of the second Test here at Lord’s on Friday. They are still 245 runs adrift of the 364 that India made in their first innings.
England, who lost two wickets off successive balls immediately after tea to Mohammed Siraj (2/34), were reduced to 23 for two before Root and opener Rory Burns (49) added 85 for the third wicket to stabilise the innings.
However, towards the end of play on Friday, pacer Mohammed Shami struck to get rid of Burns leg-before to bring India back.
Jonny Bairstow (6 off 17 balls) saw off the day in the company of Joe Root.
India were earlier bowled out for 364, adding only 88 to their overnight 276/3 as James Anderson (5/62) took his 31st five-wicket haul.
India lost centurion K.L. Rahul and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane early. Though Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja offered resistance, the tail failed to wag as India were all out soon after lunch.
Centurion Rahul was the first to go. He could add only two runs to his overnight score and fell for 129, lobbing a catch to cover off Ollie Robinson on the second ball of the day.
Five balls later, Anderson forced Ajinkya Rahane to nick his first ball of the day to slips as India were reduced to 282/5 from the overnight 276/3.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja added 49 in 18.5 overs for the sixth wicket before the former fell when he nicked an attempted cut off Mark Wood to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, 30 minutes before the end of the first session.
Mohammed Shami was dismissed by Moeen Ali soon after as India went for lunch at 346/7.
With Jadeja at crease, India were hoping they would get close to 400. Both Jadeja and pace bowler Ishant Sharma hung around after lunch before the latter fell to an Anderson beauty which jagged back in and caught him LBW.
Bumrah was dismissed by Anderson for his fifth wicket on the last ball of his 29th and Indian innings’ 126th over and on the first ball of the next over by Mark Wood, Jadeja was caught at mid-on.
Brief scores: India 364 all out in 126.1 overs (K.L. Rahul 129, Rohit Sharma 83, Virat Kohli 42, Rishabh Pant 37, Ravindra Jadeja 40; James Anderson 5/62, Ollie Robinson 2/73, Mark Wood 2/91) vs England 119/3 in 45 overs (Rory Burns 49, Joe Root 48 batting, Mohammed Siraj 2/34, Mohammed Shami 1/22).
