Indian batters continued their dominance on Day 2 of the first Test match against England to stretch their lead to 175 runs. KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja's brilliant fifties boosted India to a big total of 421/7 at the end of Day 2's play at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Batting from 119/1, India lost youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first over of the day after scoring a brilliant 80 off 74 balls. Shubman Gill and KL Rahul added 36 runs for the third wicket to give India a lead in their first innings. Debutant Tom Hartley removed Gill on 23 runs to celebrate his first wicket but India remained in a dominant position with Rahul and Shreyas Iyer adding 64 runs for the fourth wicket.
India lost Shreyas after lunch but Rahul kept the runs flowing with a balanced approach throughout his innings. He produced another big partnership with KS Bharat before losing his wicket while attempting a big shot over the deep mid-on. Rahul scored 86 off 123 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes.
However, India kept the hammering on with Jadeja and Bharat adding 68 runs from the sixth wicket. Bharat scored crucial 41 runs before losing his wicket to Joe Root with the latter surprisingly emerging as the best bowler for the visiting side on Day 2.
Jadeja took the charge after tea and added an unbeaten 63 runs for the eighth wicket with Axar Patel. Jadeja scored 81* off 155 balls and Axar remained unbeaten on 35* when the umpires called for stumps in Hyderabad. India will be looking to add quick runs on the scoreboard and take their lead past 200 on Day 3.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach
