Pujara powers India
Scores a ton to keep rampaging Ali at bay
Cheteshwar Pujara returned to form with a patient unbeaten century to keep the momentum with India after a burst of four wickets in 16 balls from Moeen Ali threatened to give England the edge on the second day of the fourth Test at Ageas Bowl yesterday
Finding support from tailenders Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, Pujara lifted the Indians from trouble at 1958 by reaching his 15th Test century, and ended unbeaten on 132 in a total of 273 all out.
That gave India a lead of 27 runs, and England openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings negotiated four tricky overs to help England end the day at 6-0, a deficit of 21 runs.
Ali briefly gave England the initiative for the first time in the test by taking four wickets in an inspired spell either side of the tea interval, including two in two balls to remove Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammad Shami. That plunged India from 181-4 to 195-8.
In snaffling Ishant Sharma, Ali got his five-wicket haul and had final figures of 5-63 off 16 overs.
Earlier, all-rounder Sam Curran followed up his inningssalvaging job on the opening day to take the crucial wicket of India skipper Virat Kohli as England fought back strongly.
By tea on the second day India were 181-5, still 65 runs in arrears of England’s first innings of 246 in which Curran had scored a vital 78 after the hosts’ top order had capitulated.
Trailing the series 2-1 India began the day on 19-0, looking to build on their impressive work of Thursday, but Stuart Broad blunted their early progress with the wickets of openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan.
Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara took the score to 100-2 at lunch, however, and began the day’s afternoon session looking set to accelerate the scoring rate and build the platform for a healthy first-innings advantage.
Kohli, who moved past 6,000 Test runs in the morning, sauntered to 47 and looked in the mood for another big innings when Curran stopped him in his tracks. In the first ball of the 41st over, Curran slanted a good-length delivery across Kohli who nicked it to Alistair Cook at first slip.
Pujara got lucky in the following over when he dangled his bat outside off stump to a Ben Stokes delivery, edging the ball between Cook and keeper Jos Buttler for a streaky boundary.
Stokes, bowling at three quarter pace because of an injury, was cursing his luck again in his second over of the day when his captain Joe Root could not hold a sharp low chance after Ajinkya Rahane nicked a wide delivery. Rahane’s reprieve was shortlived though as in Stokes’ next over he was trapped lbw by a big inswinger having made 11.
India began to find runs hard to come by but Pujara released the pressure with consecutive boundaries off Stokes as he moved to 70 not out.
India lost the first two matches of the five-Test series but hit back at Nottingham and are aiming to set up a seriesdecider at the Oval next week.
India skipper Virat Kohli’s workload will be in focus along with the middle-order slots when the national selection committee picks the squad for the Asia Cup cricket tournament on Saturday.
While India will be entering the tournament after a gruelling two-and-a-half month tour of UK, it is unlikely that top stars will take rest as they are set to play arch-rivals Pakistan at least twice or may be three times if the two teams reach the final. However, the skipper has had issues with his back and with another six Test matches lined up in the next three months (two vs West Indies and four vs Australia), the selectors will be cautious while monitoring Kohli’s workload.
There is nothing to suggest that Kohli will opt out of the tournament but, if he does, then Rohit Sharma will lead the side.
The other concern will be fixing the middle-order woes.
While Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma select themselves, KL Rahul will remain a backup opener or one-down depending on the team situation.
However, it’s the two batting slots after Kohli which are a bone of contention going into the World Cup next year.
Manish Pandey had an indifferent run with the senior team but the Quadrangular series saw him roar back to form. he led India B to the title with 306 runs in four games without being dismissed once.
Ambati Rayudu has passed the test and scored a few runs for India A. Kedar Jadhav is also fit and his slow off-breaks could be an asset on the UAE tracks.
The selectors will also find it difficult to ignore Mayank Agarwal’s rightful claim to a place in the side after scoring truckloads of runs for Karnataka and India A.
He has been a stupendous success across formats but with Dhawan, Rohit and Rahul as openers, it will be difficult for the selectors to slot Agarwal unless they decide to rest Dhawan.
The bowling department will have Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah leading the attack with Shardul Thakur and Siddarth Kaul fighting for the backup pacer’s slot along with Umesh Yadav. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind stumps, there are chances that young Rishabh Pant may make it as Dhoni’s understudy.