Some erratic bowling and field changes from India meant that England were on top at the end of the second day's play in the ongoing fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett put the bad balls away and managed to score off the good ones as well, which were very few, especially on either side of the tea break, as the Bazball hit India like a truck for the first time in the series. India added 94 runs for their last six wickets and 358 felt like a middling score until England batted.
The England openers made it look like 100 under par as they got off to a quick start, and some wayward bowling didn't help India either. There were passages of some good bowling to start with but the lack of sustained pressure and increased frequency of ball giving room to both Crawley and Duckett played into the England openers' hands and they made merry. Crawley understandably took some time getting into his innings but Duckett was off in a flash.
Duckett raced off to a 46-ball half-century as England were chopping off runs from the trail without any sort of discomfort. Soon, Crawley also brought up his fifty and the Indian captain and bowlers were running out of ideas. As Crawley started going after the bowlers now, it looked all doom and gloom for India until Ravindra Jadeja slowed it up to induce an outside edge and KL Rahul took a brilliant low catch in slips to bring some relief in the Indian camp. There was a hope now as Rahul was animated in his chat in the huddle.
Could India get a couple more before the stumps? Anshul Kamboj, the debutant, got into the act after an expensive first spell and was on the receiving end for bowling late 120s and early 130s. Kamboj bowled the heavy ball and forced Duckett to have a flash at it, getting it caught by the keeper.
Both the openers were gone and Kamboj was pumped up, his maiden Test wicket. Joe Root and Ollie Pope, the two experienced pros, safely negotiated the remaining eight overs of play to end the day for England at 225/2, a pretty solid one.
The day began with its highlight, a brave Rishabh Pant walking down the Old Trafford stairs with the whole stadium lauding his courage to bat and be there for his side. Pant completed his fifty, there were little scores from Washington Sundar and some added by Shardul Thakur onto his overnight score as India somehow breached the 350 mark. The workhorse, Ben Stokes, took his first five-wicket haul in eight years, which was also his first as Test captain for England.
The pitch has enough juice for the bowlers to extract and now it's up to Jasprit Bumrah and Co to utilise the first hour tomorrow and make things happen. Crawley mentioned on Sky Sports that their target would be to get a big lead on Day 3 as batting in the fourth innings might get really tough on this wicket.
