On a day that clearly belonged to the hosts, Team India were bowled out for a paltry 107 on the board. With the rain intervening the proceedings, toss played a crucial role. England chose to bowl and their seamers took full advantage of the conditions to bowl out the Indian side in 35 overs.
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After James Anderson got rid of the openers early on, Pujara was unfortunately run-out and three Indian batsman were already in the hut for a score of 15 runs before another long rain break. When the play started, the seamers continued to trouble the Indian batsman and it was Chris Woakes who striked first to get the prized wicket of the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli.
It seemed like a mere procession from that point onwards, as Woakes, Curran and Broad went on to pick up the remaining batsmen and Anderson finished things off with a five-wicket haul.
India’s batting weaknesses came into the spotlight once again and they were exposed by the England seamers to bundle out just under a session. The conditions didn’t help India either as there were a lot of starts and stops during the play.
Except Rahane, Kohli and Ashwin, no Indian batsman looked likely to survive in the seaming conditions on the day.
The lack of intent and technique was criticized by many fans and experts on social media but star Indian batsman, Rohit Sharma has asked people to support the Indian team during this tough phase. In a tweet, Rohit tells everyone to remember that this is the team that got India to the number 1 ranking in Tests.
England are obviously on the front foot ahead of Day 3, and the Indian bowlers will have to really pull up their socks in order to get their side back into the match.
With a little bit of luck and conditions favoring them, are the Indian bowlers capable of dismissing the England side for a small total? Day 3 will tell.
