India lead toiling England by 175 after day two of first Test as KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja hit half-centuries; Rahul dropped by Ben Foakes on nought before scoring 86 in Hyderabad - follow text commentary of day three from 3.45am, Saturday (4am first ball)
Friday 26 January 2024 18:22, UK
India assumed complete control of the first Test against England on day two as KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja helped the hosts into a huge lead of 175 in Hyderabad.
Rahul (86) was dropped by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes on nought in the first over before scoring his 14th Test fifty as India replied to England's 246 all out by reaching 421-7 in their first innings.
Jadeja (81no) notched a 20th fifty, starting his innings quickly before batting with more restraint late in the day, with Axar Patel (35no) the aggressor at the death as he smoked Tom Hartley's final over for 15, striking two fours and a six across the last three balls.
Each of India's top five batters were dismissed eyeing up boundaries rather than through magic deliveries as England's spinners struggled to offer the same threat and control as Indian trio Jadeja, Axar and Ravichandran Ashwin on day one, with the gulf in class evident.
Premier spinner Jack Leach (1-54) only bowled 16 overs on the day as he battles a knee issue, while debutant Hartley's figures read 2-131 from 25 overs and Rehan Ahmed, playing just his second Test, has gone for 105 runs from his 23, with off-spinner Joe Root (2-77) the pick of England's slow bowlers.
With the pitch offering turn and variable bounce, India's lead a big one and their spinners high class, the home side are strong favourites to move 1-0 up in the five-match contest as they begin their bid for a 17th successive Test series win on home soil.
Foakes' drop off Root - who was arguably underbowled early on - was a tough chance and the edge was not detected by on-field umpire Chris Gaffaney who signalled byes instead.
But with the tourists having burned all three of their reviews inside 14 overs on day one, they would have been unable to overturn the decision even if Foakes had held on behind the stumps, so would have needed Gaffaney to change his mind or for Rahul to walk.
Rahul shared half-century stands with Shreyas Iyer (35) and Jadeja after Root had dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal (80 off 74) in the first over and Hartley made Shubman Gill (23) his maiden Test wicket, while Jadeja posted fifty-plus partnerships with KS Bharat (41) and Axar.
Left-armer Hartley, taken apart by Jaiswal on the first evening as his opening nine overs in Test cricket were tonked for 63, improved on day two, although perhaps not to the extent that justified him bowling more overs than Root in the morning.
Hartley's second wicket was that of Rahul - the batter hauling a rank long hop to Rehan at deep midwicket as he missed out on a ninth Test century and second at home after batting at No 4 in the absence of Virat Kohli for personal reasons.
Root was a bright spark for England, catching Jaiswal off his own bowling from the fourth ball of the morning after India resumed on 119-1, trailing by 127, following Jaiswal's Thursday-night onslaught.
The off-spinner, better than a part-time option, perhaps should have had Rahul two balls later, while he could have removed Gill as well when the India No 3 hacked down the ground but England captain Ben Stokes failed to pick up the ball in the Hyderabad sun.
It was a surprise when Root was withdrawn from the attack after a four-over spell with Kevin Pietersen, commentating in India, voicing his shock, and England only managed one more breakthrough in the morning - Gill tamely caught at midwicket off Hartley.
The afternoon was also a two-wicket session for England with Shreyas clothing Rehan - who mixed fine deliveries with a a series of poor ones - to Hartley at deep midwicket before Rehan and Hartley's roles reversed for the Rahul wicket.
Root, once again, proved a partnership breaker after tea, snapping a 68-run alliance between Jadeja and Bharat when he had the latter pinned lbw on the sweep with the second new ball, but by then India's lead was into three figures, with Ashwin (1) then seventh out, run out after a mix-up with Jadeja.
Root's bowling will give England food for thought ahead of the second Test in Vizag from February 2, with the 33-year-old showing he is probably good enough to be third spinner at least, which would allow the tourists to select a second seamer in their side.
By then, they look likely to be 1-0 down.
On James Anderson's omission from the first Test, Pietersen said: "I don't think he would have gone for many runs on this surface. He would have got the ball reverse swinging, bowled wicket to wicket.
"He can bowl with control and has aura when he walks on the field. You need one bowler, at least, in trying conditions to hold the game."
England spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel, speaking to TNT Sports:
"Leach bumped his knee yesterday and he bumped it again today. He would have been our guy to bowl all those overs so it is a shame for him as he was not able to move as good as he could have. He bowled really well considering.
"Tom [Hartley] had to take that on, Rehan bowled superbly, created some chances and added a bit of flair to the game, and so did Joe [Root]. The beauty of having so many spinners is you can share that.
"It was about short spells with the guys because Jack has that knee issue so we have to be careful with everyone else. You can't just have one guy bowling 40 overs.
"It was a tough day for us but we are really proud of the way we kept coming ball after ball and creating opportunities. At some point things turn for you and we just have to keep on going."
India's KL Rahul:
"All of us have grown up on wickets like this. There is a bit of turn but the pace is a bit slow and it got slower and slower, which was a challenge. We didn't have any targets in mind, we just wanted to put as many runs on the board as possible.
"I'm enjoying batting in the middle order. You get a bit more time in the dressing room to see what the conditions are like so you walk out with an idea of how the game is going. That is helping me play better."
Follow text commentary from day three of the first Test between England and India on skysports.com and the Sky Sports App from 3.45am on Saturday (first ball at 4am).
