India finished Day 1 of the second Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Wednesday, July 2, at 310/5 in 85 overs. The tourists would be happy with their performance after losing the toss and being put in to bat first. The Indian team management drew a lot of flak from former cricketers earlier in the day after they left Kuldeep Yadav out of the side and rested Jasprit Bumrah. However, they didn’t let the outside noise dampen their spirit.
Yashasvi Jaiswal got off to a brisk start, taking the attack to the England bowlers. There were no half measures when he was batting, as he pounced on any loose ball coming his way. KL Rahul, however, played conservatively before being dismissed after scoring two runs by Chris Woakes, who bowled a stunning spell upfront.
Yashasvi and Karun Nair joined forces, and they played an aggressive brand of cricket. They added 80 runs off just 90 balls, sending England on the back foot. Nair was out to a peach of a delivery from Brydon Carse after scoring 31 runs off 50 balls.
Indian captain Shubman Gill joined Yashasvi in the middle, and they kept the scoreboard ticking without taking too many undue risks. The surface didn’t have much for the England bowlers, who were forced to toil hard.
Yashasvi had a century for the taking, but a loose shot in the second session meant that he had to take the long walk back to the pavilion, just 13 runs short of his second century on the tour. The Mumbai batter scored 87 off 107 deliveries, getting out to England captain Ben Stokes.
Rishabh Pant and Shubman mixed caution with aggression in their 47-run partnership before the former danced down the track and tried to hit Shoaib Bashir for a maximum. The wicketkeeper-batter couldn’t establish a proper connection between the bat and the ball and was caught superbly by Zak Crawley at long-on. Nitish Kumar Reddy, playing his first game in the series, shouldered arms to a delivery from Woakes, which nipped back in after pitching and disturbed the stumps.
This was a great little passage of play for the hosts as they took two wickets in consecutive overs. At 211/5, India needed a partnership, and it came from Shubman and Ravindra Jadeja. The former notched up his second century in the series in the 80th over, hitting a boundary off Joe Root’s bowling.
At Stumps on Day 1, Shubman finished unbeaten on 114 off 216 deliveries, belting 12 fours. Meanwhile, Jadeja is not out on 41 after facing 67 deliveries. India would look to get to at least 450, especially after adding more depth in their batting department in this Test.
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