India bowl out England for 255 in second Test

In fact James Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled 14 overs between them giving 22 runs and picking up three wickets, reducing India to 40/3 when finally Virat and Ajinkya injected some momentum and stability in the innings.

Hameed responded but Root changed his mind just as his partner got halfway down for the second run. I don’t think it affected me too much. You guys watch the game through the day and pitch is something you can definitely assess better than we do, he added.

Then Anderson nipped one through the defences of Cheteshwar Pujara and bowled India’s No.3 who has scored two centuries already in this series. Only last week we have scored 500 out here.

Bairstow and Ben Stokes (70) consolidated the innings, taking England to 190/6 from 80/5 at one a stage before eventually folding for 255 in reply to India’s first innings total of 455.

“Right now, Ash (Ashwin) is bowling beautifully, like a dream”.

Earlier, India dismissed the visitors for 255, but the hosts opted not to impose the follow-on. The hosts are likely to push for a target of over 450, for which they might need to bat for close to a session and a half.

Kohli (151) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1) were at the crease when umpires concluded the day’s play.

There was drama even before play started as Bairstow turned his ankle on his way out to bat and had to return to the dressing room for treatment, delaying the start.

“I can’t see how they can win”. So tomorrow morning, we’ll come out at 9:30 and we’ll try our hardest in the morning session to restrict the amount of runs and take a few wickets. ‘We know going into the fourth innings we can play Ashwin well. But England were far more sure-footed when the action did get under way.

This was also Bairstow’s ninth fifty plus score in this year equaling the most for a wicket-keeper batsman with AB de Villiers, who achieved it in 2013.

Resuming at the overnight score of 103/5, Bairstow and Stoke survived the occasional scare to complete a 110-run partnership. While Bairstow looked for singles, Stokes hit the frequent boundary, while looking stoic in defense. Virat said let’s get mid-on up and make him go for a slog sweep. “But the chats work for us”.

Adil Rashid scored an unbeaten 32 as Broad also came out to bat with goal, but the English batting struggled to get close to India’s 455. Fight with the bat, fight with the ball and in the field. Stay tuned with us for more updates. Saha, as much as everyone wants to believe he is the best pure wicketkeeper in India, is already making too many mistakes for comfort and with that reliability in batting still not quite there, these are the sort of errors India can not afford. He bowled nicely today.