Indian middle-order batsman KL Rahul played a splendid knock of 86 off 123 balls on Day 2 of the first Test against England in Hyderabad. India, who resumed the day at 119/1, scored 421/7 in 110 0vers.
India now leads by 175 runs at the end of the second day’s play and scored 302 runs with the loss of six wickets in the day’s play. Almost all the Indian batsmen, barring Ravichandran Ashwin, got starts.
Rahul added key partnerships with Shubman Gill (23) and Shreyas Iyer (35). It was the fifth wicket to fall for India with a team score of 288. KS Bharat (35) then added a 68-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja. Bharat and Ashwin were dismissed in quick succession, after which Axar Patel (25*) added an unbeaten stand of 63 off 117 balls with Jadeja, who is unbeaten on 81.
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Rahul after the end of the day spoke about India’s position in the Test match, the pitch and what to expect from India in the remaining three days. He started by talking about him batting in the middle order.
“Enjoy batting in the middle order. I enjoyed batting in the top order for a long time, but here you get some time to put your feet up, look at how the ball is, what the bowlers are doing and it gives you time to plan your innings.” Raul said.
Bowling got slower as ball got older: KL Rahul
He then spoke about his knock on Day 2, where he looked comfortable against all the England bowlers and bowled them with aplomb. He also commented on how the pitch behaved during the day.
“The goal was to keep a positive attitude when I went out to bat. Very different from South Africa (on the field): a little turned, became slower and slower as the ball got older. It was a challenge, I had to wait for my opportunity to play shots” Raúl added.
It was another grueling day for the English bowlers who had to work hard to get the Indian wickets. Jack Leach, the most experienced English player in this attack, did not use the ball much. Stokes encouraged inexperienced spinners Rehan Ahmed and Tim Hartley to do much of the bowling. Hartley bowled 25 overs and gave away 131 runs, while Rehan gave away 105 runs in 23 overs.
He concluded by talking about India’s plans for the remaining three days of the Test match. He said the team’s plan was to run as many races as possible on the second day.
“It’s only the second day, we just wanted to bat all day and get as many runs as possible (as per the team plan). The talk was to bat as long as possible and everyone to bat and score as many runs as we could.” Raúl finished.
The Hyderabad pitch showed spin and bounce and even Joe Root managed to get the ball to spin and bounce sharply. Team India, who will bat last on this wicket, will want to get as many runs as possible and possibly knock England out of the game.
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