Sourav Ganguly and Geoffrey Boycott
BCCI president and former India skipper Sourav Ganguly on Thursday attended the Lord's Test between England and India. One of the most influential captains of the sport, Ganguly described cricket as "majestic" as he recalled his debut at the home of cricket.
"Came here as player first in 1996 ..and then as captain..enjoyed the game at lord's today as an administrator...India was and is in a good position all the times ..this game of cricket is majestic," wrote Ganguly on Instagram.
Ganguly was spotted enjoying the action with BCCI secretary Jay Shah, vice-president Rajiv Shukla, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) CEO Tom Harrison. Ganguly was also seen interacting with legendary English batsman Geoffrey Boycott. It was Boycott who gave Ganguly the nickname of "Prince of Kolkata".
Meanwhile, hosts England won the toss and opted to bat against an Ashwin-less Indian side. The visitors decided to injured Shardul Thakur with Ishant Sharma as Ashwin was ignored for the second Test too.
India had a brilliant opening day with the bat as KL Rahul notched up sixth Test ton, becoming only the third Indian opener to score a Test century at Lords. He joined Vinoo Mankad (184) and current Indian team coach Ravi Shastri (100) in the list.
Rohit Sharma also scored his highest overseas score. The senior India opener registered 83 before falling prey to James Anderson's incoming delivery.
Rahul and Rohit put India in the driver's seat with their batting shows while Cheteshwar Pujara recorded yet another failure. Skipper Virat Kohli also chipped in with a vital 42 before getting dismissed in the final minutes of the day.
