IND vs ENG: India end second day 52 runs ahead after Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna bag four each to restrict England

Time of India

13 hours ago

India's Mohammed Siraj (PTI Photo)
LONDON: Often in this series, the fighting qualities of some player or the other has bailed India out of tricky situations.
Mohammed Siraj
was the man on Friday. His 4/86 offered India the spark they needed to get going again in this fiercely competitive series.
Prasidh Krishna
followed suit with 4/62 to finally come good in the series and restrict England's lead to first-innings lead to just 23. Subsequently,
Yashasvi Jaiswal
took the fight to England to set up another fascinating Test.
At stumps, Jaiswal was batting on 51 off 49 with nightwatchman Akash Deep at the other end, and India were 52 runs on a lively pitch at the Oval. India's early-morning collapse for 224 and England's opening onslaught looked a distant memory.
The Indian team management, after much deliberation, decided to use the light roller to start resume the second day's proceedings with Karun Nair and Washington Sundar at the crease.
With England one bowler due to Chris Woakes' shoulder injury, India must have also thought about using the heavy roller to flatten out the juicy Oval surface toenable Nair to build on his unbeaten half-century.
The light roller helped the pitch retain most of its seamfriendly characteristics. Under the bright sun, local boy Gus Atkinson ran through the batting in 30 minutes to finish with 5/33 on his return from injury.
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India could only add 20 to the overnight score. It took Siraj and Krishna's incisive spells on either side of tea for India to recover from their indecisive strategy. Siraj and Krishna gave India breathing space after having bowled England out for 247.
Till the first hour after lunch, India relied entirely on the pitch to do the trick for them. The entire team were visibly stunned when openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley went hammer and tongs up front.
The scoring rate swelled to nearly eight runs per over in the first 12 overs. As it has happened mostly throughout the series, captain Shubman Gill didn't have a backup plan as England raced to 109/1 in 16 overs, losing Duckett to a reverse sweep off Akash Deep for 43 off 38.
The field remained the same for every England batter. Following that opening onslaught, the three Indian seamers were left searching for the right areas to bowl.
Siraj, with his experience, discovered it after lunch. Prasidh followed suit. In tandem, they stemmed the rampaging England batters.
England were doing a 'Bazball' in its truest form. They didn't want the pitch and the Indian seamers to dictate proceedings. It was in sharp contrast to India's unidirectional approach to batting in seaming conditions.
India played to survive. Nair looked composed on Thursday but strangely turned up tentative on Friday morning.
He could add just five runs to his overnight score before Josh Tongue found his back pad in front of the stumps for 57. Washington, for the second time in two matches, holed out to a deep fielder positioned specifically for a hook shot.
Tail, perhaps overwhelmed by the idea to stretch the innings long, didn't look to score, only to meekly surrender their wickets.
Maybe, India missed the counterattacking spirit of Rishabh Pant. Maybe, England picked it up from India's innings. As the new ball played a few tricks, Duckett quickly switched to T20-style batting — be it running down the pitch to hit through the off-side or reverse sweeping the pacers. Crawley's dismissal for 64 off 57 to a sharp bouncer of Krishna felt like an event that came against the run of play.
Once Siraj found his spot, run-scoring became tough. He went full and straight at the stumps, getting three LBWs and a bowled. Prasidh also focused on not offering any room to the English batters. There was a plan, finally.
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