England continued their domination on day two, where they made the most of their solid platform by notching up a total in excess of 500 in the first innings of the first Test at Rajkot. In response, Indian openers saw through till the close of play on 63/0.
Beginning the day with six wickets in hand and two set batsmen at the crease, England made merry on the back of centuries from Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes to put on 537 and became the first team since 2012 to post more than 500 in an innings in India.
Also Read: India vs England, 1st Test Day 2 Stats: Stokes gets off the mark, India left with mountain to climb
India’s bowlers toiled hard but with little reward on a pitch that didn't have too much for the bowlers, still Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets while the other wickets were evenly distributed among the other bowlers.
In response, Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay got India off to a great start, as the pair put on an unbeaten fifty partnership to end day two, still 474 runs behind England’s massive first innings total.
Still some spin and reverse swing says Moeen
England’s centurion, Moeen Ali admitted that there was some spin and reverse swing. He said: "I thought there was good spin for us. A bit of reverse as well. I think the slower balls spun a bit more than the rest, but the build up to that ball has to be on the money as well.
“Patience is something Saqi [Saqlain Mushtaq] talks about a lot, we need to be patient. [On his innings:] Before going in to bat, I wasn't feeling great, I was feeling a bit lethargic. I wasn't moving my feet too well yesterday, but I just played the situation. [On his dismissal:] Shami was bowling well, I thought I needed to see him through, maybe I got a bit negative, but I find him quite tough to play."
Here are the reactions from the cricket fraternity:
Some were curious about the pitch like Dean Jones:
Other praised England's batting, James Taylor:
English All-rounder Tim Bresnan:
Former England international Phil Tufnell:
Former Australian international Tom Moody:
Ben Stokes' teammate at Durham, Scott Borthwick:
Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan on the secret to success on a rather placid wicket:
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
