The second day of the ongoing Dharamsala Test between India and England belonged entirely to the hosts as they put in a domineering batting effort to claim pole position. Led by Shubman Gill and skipper Rohit Sharma who scored a century each, the Indian batters stamped their authority on the game and made the English bowlers look fairly ordinary.
The pair of Gill and Rohit added 175 runs for the second wicket and dented England's hopes of making a comeback in the game. India completely dominated the first session as Gill and Rohit scored their hundreds and frustrated the English bowlers who looked toothless.
However, the start of the second session began on a positive note for the tourists as their skipper Ben Stokes struck with his very first ball on his bowling return to international cricket. Stokes castled Rohit on 103 and the dismissal even left England's red-ball head coach Brendon McCullum pleasantly surprised.
James Anderson also followed suit in the next over and cleaned up Gill at an individual score of 110. Two quick wickets brought England back into the contest but they couldn't capitalise as Sarfaraz Khan and debutant Devdutt Padikkal dug in.
The pair added 97 runs for the fourth wicket and literally shut the door down on the face of the Three Lions. Sarfaraz (56 runs) took his time initially but made up for it by going after the bowlers, especially Mark Wood, later on in his innings.
He perished immediately after tea while trying to play a late cut off Shoaib Bashir and was caught at first slip. Padikkal also played well for his half-century (65 runs) and got out to Bashir. Tom Hartley removed Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in quick succession to script a late fightback from England.
However, a 45-run stand for the ninth wicket between Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah towards the fag end of the day ensured India finished the day on top. Both players are still unbeaten and will resume on day three.
