KL Rahul has had a dream comeback to the Indian test side as an opener as he scored his 6th test hundred on Thursday. With this hundred he has got his name on the prestigious honors board of Lords. His opening partner Rohit Sharma to make a well-constructed 83 before getting clean bowled to Mark Wood. Rohit’s wicket had come totally against the run of play. Here’s how the Day 1 of the second test match panned out: –
1st session: –
The first few overs of the match saw England dominate the game. The pacers were on top of their game. Placing the ball right outside the off-stump. Ollie Robinson and Jimmy made things difficult for the Indians. But the Indian openers stood their ground. In the first 8 overs, the scorecard read 8 runs only. But after that, batting seemed like a walk in the park. The batsmen respected the bowlers for the initial half-hour but then made their mark. The first session ended with a soft drizzle due to which early lunch was taken. The session lasted for 18.4 overs after which the scorecard read 46 runs. The early lunch was taken to avoid loss of time.
2nd session: –
The second session belonged to Rohit Sharma! He went on a roll with several consecutive boundaries. One over of left-handed Sam Curran went for 16 runs and from there onwards the momentum shifted. Rohit also showed the Lord’s crowd his trademark pull shot that went for a six. He also effectively negated Moeen Ali. The shot of the day has to be Rohit stepping out and hitting the off-spinner over mid-on for a boundary. However, Rohit Sharma’s dream innings came to an end completely against the run of play. Mark Wood with his extra pace and the scrambled seam was able to get through Rohit’s defense. Rohit was out for 83.
Then in came Pujara. Pujara didn’t trouble the scorers much as his innings ended early with him edging the ball in the slip cordon to Johnny Bairstow. Next in was Virat. Virat ensured that no wicket fell from the other end, while Rahul again shifted the momentum towards India. In the second session, a total of 111 runs were scored and 2 wickets fell.
3rd session: –
The third session was owned by the Indians. KL Rahul showed off his capabilities in this session. Those splendid drives were a treat to watch. Virat on the non-strikers end too, was rock solid. They both belted the English bowlers. Virat also presented his cover drives and a lofted drive. Slowly and steadily Rahul was moving towards his hundred. He was feeling the nervous nineties. But then the moment that was bound to come had arrived. KL scored his first century at the Mecca of Cricket “LORDS”. His name will now feature on the honors board. At the conclusion of the day, Virat departed with 4 overs to spare. He nicked Ollie Robinson to Joe Root in the slips and again the wait for his 71st 100 has become a bit longer. Nevertheless, the day belonged to India.