Shardul bails India out
Thakur and Kohli hit 50s but England dominates first day
An enterprising innings from Shardul Thakur 57 (36b, 7x4, 3x6), and a half-century from captain Virat Kohli 50 (96b, 8x4) enabled India to post 191 on the first day of the fourth Test here on Thursday.
After being asked to bat first, England pacers rocked India’s top order reducing it to 39 for three. Just when it looked like India would struggle to get past 150, after being at a precarious 127 for seven, Shardul struck a few lusty blows as he raced to his half-century. Chris Woakes (4/55) and Ollie Robinson (3/38) shared seven wickets between them.
Earlier, Kohli couldn’t convert his good start into a much-anticipated three-figure knock.
The Joe Root dropped catch at slips off Woakes’ bowling didn’t matter much as Kohli, despite his eight well-timed boundaries, was once again consumed outside the off-stump. On either side of Kohli’s dismissals during the session was Ravindra Jadeja (10) and Ajinkya Rahane (14)’s ejection from the crease which pretty much summed up another batting debacle. For Rahane, the time is simply running out after yet another failure and the fact that he needed to be hid behind Jadeja under the pretence of having a left-right combination, said it all.
Ashwin overlooked again; mystery continues
A couple of days ago, Ravichandran Ashwin posted pictures on social media in which he was seen doing shadow batting. In one, he was playing the cover drive and in the other, he could be seen practising leaving the deliveries.
Nothing was out of place only that he was practising left-handed and the accompanying tweet read “The desire to ignite something different everyday never burns out.” On Thursday, Indian skipper Virat Kohli once again announced at the toss that India’s fourth highest wicket-taker in Test cricket would not be among the five best bowlers who would be playing the Oval Test against England.
Brief scores: India (1st innings) 191 in 61.3 overs (S Thakur 57, V Kohli 50, C Woakes 4/55, O Robinson 3/38) vs England