The notorious Rishabh Pant has done it again. The Delhi-born lad has made it a habit of making the headlines for all the wrong and hilarious reasons and the second day of the first test match between India and England was no different. Although the Indian wicket-keeper was doing a pretty decent job from behind the wicket for most of the day, Rishabh Pant messed things up a little before lunch break.
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In the 151st over of the England innings, Ollie Pope miscued a slog sweep against Ravichandran Ashwin and the ball flew over Pant’s head. Not knowing so, Rishabh Pant was seen searching for the ball in the opposite direction while Rohit Sharma collected the ball from behind the stumps. The incident left the commentators and the Indian players in splits.
Watch the video of the incident here, Rishabh Pant was left searching for the ball:
The second day of the first test match was pretty entertaining in all respects. Banking on a swashbuckling double century by Joe Root and other valuable contributions from the lower middle order, England continued to add onto India’s misery on Day-2 of the first test. The job for the Indian team seems to only grow harder with each passing day as England ends another day of the test in the driving seat.
England started the second on the front foot:
After having posted a score of 263/3 by the first Day’s play, thanks to a brilliant century by captain Joe Root. It was a valiant contribution by Dom Sibley. England began batting on the second Day with the equal flow as they did the day before. The first hour of the play saw a sublime batting performance. Ben Stokes who was new to the crease began scoring for fun along with the well-set, Joe Root. Neither of them had any difficulty in finding the scoring areas as the duo continued to keep the opposition bowlers on the brink. Both root and stokes piled on runs, thereby getting to their 150, and 50 respectively as England scored 92 runs in the first session.
The second session saw some real attacking cricket from the visitors. It was as the batsmen started taking on the bowlers from both ends. Ben Stokes especially went into beast mode. That was, as he just never let the spinners settle down from either end. What contributed to this onslaught mainly was the sloppy work by the Indian fielders. It was, as they dropped Stokes twice in two overs allowing him to cherish his stay on the crease.
The easy chances were let go:
The first opportunity was let go off by Ashwin. It was off of his own bowling. That was when Stokes while looking to guide a ball down to the mid-on region. It was mistimed straight back to the bowler.
All Ashwin could do was stick out his right hand in the way of the ball. Still, he was not able to catch it. The second catch was dropped right in the next over. It was off Nadeem’s bowling as Pujara failed to hold on to a difficult chance in the outfield. He was eventually dismissed for 82. This time was he caught by Pujara who managed to complete catch after a tumbling effort.
Root scored a brilliant double century:
Root as we know just can’t stop performing recently. He did the same in this match as he did not stop after scoring a sensational 100 in his 100th test match. Day-2 saw a 100% efficient version of the Englishman as he just never let the pressure shift to his side. With each ball, he faced his vision. The bat-flow, elegance, and timing seemed to become even more perfect. This was indeed was a threat for the home side. He notched up his 150 during his partnership with Stokes in the first session of the day. He made perfect use of the pressure made by Stokes’ attacking stroke-play. That is as he brought up his fifth double ton in Tests off a six to Ashwin.
He finally was dismissed LBW for 218 by Shahbaz Nadeem. By then, he had demolished India’s hopes of restricting the opposition. That was within an achievable total in the first innings. The guy who did not manage a singleton in 2020, has now hit three tons inside the first three Test matches he’s played this year. With this magical innings, Root went past innumerable milestones in test cricket.
With scores of 228,186 prior to the 218, he also joined the elite group of batsmen. This is part of the list of batsmen who have secured three consecutive 150+ scores in Test cricket. Finally, he set the record for the highest total by any batsmen on his 100th test match.
England ended the day on 555/8; what next for Rishabh Pant and co.?
This was after the dismissals of Root and Stokes. India managed to put some resistance on the free-flowing run rate. Considerable contributions from Pope, Buttler and Bess in the lower middle order kept India on their toes till the end of the day’s play. England finished the day on 555/8 in 180 overs. It was with Bess and Leach not out at 28 and 6 respectively.
This was contrary to everybody’s expectations. That was as people hoped the visitors to declare their innings. They did, after having piled up a 500+ score. It was thereby providing India with half an hour of batting. They will search for an early breakthrough within the time period.
