It was the best I have seen KL Rahul bat: Rohit Sharma

Plan was to bowl around fourth, fifth stump: Ollie Robinson on Kohli's dismissal

England fast bowler Ollie Robinson scalped the important wicket of Indian skipper Virat Kohli on the first day of the second Test between England and India at Lord’s on Thursday. Robinson revealed how he succeeded in executing the plans but also lauded the Indian batsmen for their efforts. Talking about the dismissal in a virtual press conference after the day’s play, Robinson said, "It was huge and gave us a bit of momentum for the morning. The plan to him was always fourth, fifth stump, back of a length... luckily the plan worked." "We toiled hard today against their batters and to be fair, they played well," added the young bowler. The right-handed batsman had a cautious start to his innings and scored 42 off 103 balls before he was sent back to the pavilion. The visitors had a brilliant day at the office though, putting up 276/3 on the first day of the second clash. India were put into bat by England captain Joe Root and openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma provided a steady start. The two batsmen put together 126 for the first wicket before Sharma departed for a well compiled 83 while Rahul went on to score a ton to get his name on the Honours Board at Home of Cricket. Cheteshwar Pujara came in at number three, but failed to leave a mark and was dismissed for 9 by James Anderson who eventually returned with figures of 2/52 in 20 overs.

WI vs PAK | 1st Test | Day 1: Pakistan fight back after getting bowled out for 217

West Indies had a struggling start in the first innings of the first Test against Pakistan after they were reduced to 2/2, trailing by 215 runs before the stumps were called at the Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. Opener Kieron Powell was the first batsman who was sent back to the pavilion by Mohammad Abbas for a 6-ball duck while Nkrumah Bonner followed him for a golden duck on the very next delivery after, getting trapped in front of the stumps by Abbas. He returned with figures of 0/2 in two overs at the end of the day’s play. Earlier, the visitors were bundled out for 217 after Jayden Seales and Jason Holder ran through the Pakistan batting line up. The two bowlers shared a total of six wickets between themselves. Pakistan had a disappointing start to the proceedings as they lost Imran Butt for 11 after he was cleaned up by Kemar Roach. The visitors then lost wickets at regular intervals and were 101/5 when Fawad Alam and Faheem Ashraf steadied the Pakistan ship. The two batters put on a stand of 85 runs for the sixth wicket before Ashraf departed for 44. The 35-year-old Alam went on to score 56 runs, which would also be his maiden half-century in Test cricket having previously scored four hundred in 11 matches. He was undone by Holder for 56. The pacer eventually returned with impressive bowling figures of 3/26 in 15.3 overs. The right-hander talked about his preparations and performance after the first day. “I had a few days to prepare (after white-ball cricket) and for me, it's just about getting my rhythm back in this format and it wasn't a bad transition, we had a good day as a bowling unit. It was slower than expected and we had to be a little fuller and make them play as much as possible,” he said.

Inside out | Rohit, Rahul and a surreal Indian dominance in England

As soon as Virat Kohli lost another toss on an overcast day at Lord’s, there would have been a sense of ‘here we go again’ among Indian fans. After all, the disaster of the 2018 Test at the same venue would not have been forgotten. However, the ‘new India’ as Virat Kohli takes pride in saying were up to the task and made sure they did not let the history repeat itself. In that Lord’s Test, James Anderson had ripped open the Indian batting order from the very first over, but that moment came way too late for the good of Indians. There have been two schools of thought on what should be the right approach to batting under such challenging circumstances, and one of them argues that batsmen should make use of the opportunity to score runs as an unplayable delivery will always be around the corner. The Indian batting group could well have opted for that tactic given the plenty of shots in their openers—KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma’s armoury. Needless to say, the move would have been fraught with serious risk of losing the game in the first session itself and they rather chose to weather the storm. Rahul and Rohit have been paired at the top of the order by unfortunate circumstances but none of them has looked like batting out of their comfort zone even when they have been living their lives in pure denial. On the risk of over comparison, It would be worth going back to the 2018 Lord’s Test where India were down and out by the end of the eighth over losing their first three due to the swing of Anderson and the chaos it brought with itself. In a completely different scenario, both Rahul and Rohit did not offer anything but dead bats to the balls but only after they threatened their pads or the stumps. Such was their sense of denial that India could muster only eight runs from the first eight overs with no four. There was only one scoring shot and it came in the form of defence by Rohit towards mid-on. They were not only resilient in their mindset to see off both the new ball and early spell from Anderson and Ollie Robinson, they could also be sensing that England’s third and fourth seamer in Mark Wood and Sam Curran would not ask them such repetitive tough questions. India got their first boundary in the 13th over when Curran allowed Rohit to whip him off his legs and the first hour of the day that appeared to be a humongous task at the start was won comprehensively by the pair of Rohit and Rahul. Both Rahul and Rohit batted with the attitude of a champion and they limited themselves in waiting for their opposition to go to their lesser strengths. After all, Root could not have bowled Anderson to the ground in the very first session. As soon as Curran came into the attack, Rohit nullified his attempt to swing by batting well outside his crease. Curran was treated mercilessly with four boundaries in one over where the left-armer went searching the swing from the fuller ball on leg stump to outside off. While Rohit started to come to his own, Rahul kept on his composure and did not go with the flow, except for a mighty six off Moeen Ali. England offered opportunities to drive outside off stump but he did not take one bait till Rohit Sharma was at the crease. Rohit could not score what could have been his first overseas century but his 83 meant that India had won the first bout of the battle in challenging conditions against Anderson and co. He was bowled by a jaffa that seamed in to sneak through between his pad and bat but the wicket was more of a desperate result than usual affair on the first day. The opening partnership of 126 runs was India’s first 100-run partnership in SENA countries since the Centurion Test against South Africa in 2010. The duo was on their way to score that partnership in the first game before Rohit Sharma had hooked Robinson at the stroke of lunch on the second day at Trent Bridge. Rohit has time and again reiterated that the hook shot is a productive one for him and that he will never disown his go-to shot in tough conditions. The evidence of his confidence was right there as he engaged himself into a riveting duel with Wood, who was bowling great guns in excess of 90 mph. He could have been out hooking the ball once more like the first attempt of breaking the shackle produced just a top-edge. However, an undeterred Rohit produced a gem of a pull shot by thumping Wood in front of the square to establish his dominance on the proceedings of the day. As soon as Rohit departed, Rahul took the baton of keeping the scoreboard going on his shoulders. India were rocked again with the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara but the calmness of Rahul was not lost one bit. He stitched yet another hundred run partnership with the skipper, Virat Kohli to put India in a commanding position. He was beaten on multiple occasions but he never played the previous delivery. Rohit was set up by Anderson by a handful of away going deliveries before one sneaked through his defence, but Rahul was watchful and did not bat with any baggage of even previous delivery. He had missed out on a deserving century in Nottingham after Anderson finally weighed him down in the game of patience outside the off stump. There was no repetition of mistakes and he kept his game simple to reach an iconic hundred to earn a reckoning on the Lord’s Honours Board. They have had the answer to everything that England threw at them and it was quite a moment to cherish for Indian fans who have been dealt heartily blows by the feeble batting over the last three Test series in England.

ENG vs IND | 2nd Test, Day 1: Rahul, Rohit put on masterclass to drive home advantage

A high-class hundred from KL Rahul and an equally classy half-century from Rohit Sharma put India on top by the end of the first day’s play of the second Test against England at Lord’s. Both of them had looked good in the last Test at Trent Bridge as well, but they converted their scores into substantial scores to put the hosts under real pressure. At the stumps, Rahul was unbeaten at 127 while Ajnkya Rahane nervously survived the last 15 minutes to take India to 276/3. A Bowling day? England captain Joe Root won yet another toss as Virat Kohli’s hard luck with the toss continued at Lord’s as well. There were little to no chances of rain on the first three days of the Test but it did arrive well before the proceedings could take shape. Buoyed by the cloud cover and intermittent rain, Root called upon his pacers led by James Anderson to unleash their swing and seam on the Indian batting lineup that was thin in terms of personnel. He could have had his reasons to bowl first as they would have thought of taking away the top order and star-studded batting lineup when there was the maximum amount of assistance available. The move did not yield results though as both Rohit and Rahul put on a masterful show of batting against swing and seam bowling and put on a hundred-run partnership for the first wicket. Rohit’s control, Rahul’s patience England pacers barring Anderson were guilt of bowling wide deliveries to both Rohit and Rahul and one of them bothered to chase them at the start of the innings. They could only muster eight runs in the first eight overs of the game while it took 13 overs for the first boundary to come, but they did not offer even one opportunity to England bowlers as well. However, once Root took Anderson off the attack and handed the duke to Sma Curran, who is known to extract swing in the air, Rohit latched onto the opportunity. He took a liking of Curran and despatched him for four boundaries in the over to get India going with runs. Hinting at no remorse after failing to a short ball in the first Test, Rohit hooked another sharp bouncer from Mark Wood, who was bowling thunderbolts on his return to the Test cricket. The connection however was better and it sailed over fine leg boundary. Wood thought of tempting him again but by the time the next short delivery came, he was well in the middle of his bullish mode and smashed him in front of the square from the front foot. At the other end, Rahul was showing exemplary patience and did not open up his blade while Rohit was going all guns blazing. He chose to score only 11 runs from his first 81 balls in order to provide India with a perfect platform on what the hosts believed to be a bowling-friendly day. However, as soon as Rohit departed, he changed his momentum and started punishing bad balls to the fence. He upped his tempo and like Rohit, cashed in on the scoring opportunities presented by England’s third and fourth pacer in Wood and Curran. He was threatening for a big one in Nottingham but his three-figure core could not have come at a better venue than the Lord’s. Reopening of Kohli’s 2014 wounds? Indian skipper walked out to bat towards the end of Anderson’s spell in the afternoon session and took some time before getting off the mark. Anderson was at him around the off stump and Rahul provided him with enough protection by farming strike to see off Anderson. The pacer was at the top of his game on either side of the tea break and dismissed Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara, who seems to have lost all the strings of his batting. He went out in the most unlikeliest fashion of poking at one he could have left from Anderson. Slowly, he found his groove and played some crisp shots through the off side and whip off the wrist against Moeen Ali to show signs of revival of the form. However, he was shuffling across the stumps to cover his off stump and ultimately it led to his undoing. Ollie Robinson found that nagging length and the line outside off stump and lured him into playing at one he should have left and a delighted Joe Root could not let that chance go towards the end of what was a tough day for the hosts. Kohli has been found wanting in the same channel in the 2014 series and also in the three out of four innings so far on the current tour and unless he tightens him up, there will be no end of such balls and his misery in the series. Looking forward to the second day India would be delighted to welcome Rahul back into the pavilion unbeaten after 100 while Rahane too would have gathered some sort of understanding of how the pitch is behaving by the end of the day’s play. The tourists will be disappointed if they don’t amass anything less than 400 runs in the first innings after such a strong batting performance on an opening day. Individually, Rahane would be eager to get back among runs after a lean patch. England would be pumped up to get an early breakthrough to stop the Indian batting order from batting them out of the game with a huge score on the board. Root was not helped by the inaccuracies of Curran and Wood, and the team management would be hopeful of some consistency from the duo on the second day if they don’t want to bowl Anderson to the ground and out of the series.