Enroot To Glory

England captain Joe Root was hardly perturbed during his undefeated knock of 132, but the Indian pace attack fared marginally better to make a few breakthroughs before the host reached 314 for five at Tea on the third day of the second Test.

With India struggling to dislodge Root, who has so far faced 237 balls, England has a good chance of surpassing the visitor’s first-innings score of 364, which will certainly give it a psychological advantage.

As many as 97 and 98 runs were scored in the first two sessions, signaling the plight of the Indian bowling attack, primarily due to Root, who has tweaked his stance with lesser trigger movement of the back-foot.

Along with Root, Moeen Ali (20 batting off 31 balls) was at the crease after Mohammed Siraj (3 for 71 in 23 overs) and Ishant Sharma (1 for 60 in 20 overs) did well enough to remove Jonny Bairstow (57 off 107 balls) and Jos Buttler (23 off 42 balls) respectively.

However, Siraj was guilty of bowling too many short and wide balls on the day and a plethora of boundaries came quickly.

Root, a nemesis of Indian bowlers since his international debut, was once again at his best as he attacked them from the start of the third day and found an able ally in Bairstow. The pair added 121 runs for the fourth wicket before Siraj hurried the latter with a short ball.

Old warhorse Ishant, then, bowled a fuller delivery that nipped back in to breach Buttler’s defense.

In between, Root ran a quick single to score his 22nd Test hundred and also became the first England captain to score five centuries in a season.

A bottle cork was hurled at KL Rahul from the stand during the pre-lunch session while an English fan dressed in India kit entered the field before tea, in two separate incidents on the third day.

Rahul was seen with an object that looked like a champagne bottle cork during the 69th over, bowled by Mohammed Shami. It was after the fourth delivery of Shami’s over that Rahul, who was fielding near the boundary ropes, was targeted.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli wasn’t pleased with the incident and instructed Rahul to throw it outside. The game was briefly halted as Indian players were seen talking to umpires Michael Gough and Richard Illingworth.

In another incident that many Indian players found amusing, a burly English fan, with ‘Jarvo’ printed on the back of his jersey, entered the field.

The security did get hold of him before he was ejected out of the venue. It couldn’t be confirmed whether he was in an inebriated state.

Brief Scores at Tea:

India (1st innings) 365 vs England (1st innings) 314/5 in 98 overs (J Root 132 batting, J Baristow 57, R Burns 49, M Siraj 3/71)