Kohli's epic 149 and Ashwin's late strike give India hope

Indian captain Virat Kohli celebrates his wicket

Birmingham - India were facing a large first-innings deficit at 182 for eight but skipper Kohli, dropped twice, made a superb 149

Read more...

By AFP

Published: Thu 2 Aug 2018, 10:37 PM

Last updated: Fri 3 Aug 2018, 11:43 PM

In what was a fascinating day of Test cricket, India fought back with captain Virat Kohli's magnificent 149 and then off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled England opener Alastair Cook for a duck to leave the first Test on a knife edge.
England were nine for one in their second innings, a lead of 22 runs, at stumps on the second day of the first Test against India at Edgbaston on Thursday.
Cook was out for a duck to what became the last ball of the day when England's all-time leading Test run-scorer, for the second time in the match, was drawn forward and bowled by a superb delivery from Ashwin that pitched on middle and hit off stump.
Keaton Jennings was five not out.
India were facing a large first-innings deficit at 182 for eight but skipper Kohli, dropped twice, made a superb 149 - his maiden Test century in England - in a total of 274.
He was eventually last man out, with India just 13 runs adrift of England's first innings 287.
Kohli, one of the outstanding batsmen of his generation, managed just 134 runs in five Tests at an average of 13.4 on his maiden tour of England four years ago.
But the now 29-year-old India skipper surpassed that total in one innings with a knock of 149.
Kohli was on 97 when No 11 Umesh Yadav walked out to bat, with India 217 for nine in reply to England's first innings 287.
But a late cut four off all-rounder Ben Stokes, his 14th boundary in 172 balls, saw Kohli to a 22nd Test hundred in what is the first of a five-match series.
However, England slip fielder Dawid Malan dropped Kohli twice, on 21 and 51, with James Anderson and Stokes the unlucky bowlers.
Kohli then topped his 2014 series total in the one knock with a two off leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
In total, Kohli batted for nearly five hours, faced 225 balls, including 22 fours and a six.
He dominated a last-wicket stand of 57 with Umesh Yadav, who made just one, with India just 13 runs adrift at 274 all out.
Sam Curran was the pick of the English bowlers with figures of 4/74, while the veteran James Anderson (2/41) was at his brilliant best. 
SCOREBOARD
England 1st Innings (overnight: 285-9)
A. Cook b Ashwin                          13
K. Jennings b Shami                       42
J. Root run out (Kohli)                   80
D. Malan lbw b Shami                       8
J. Bairstow b Yadav                       70
B. Stokes c and b Ashwin                  21
J. Buttler lbw b Ashwin                    0
S. Curran c Karthik b Shami               24
A. Rashid lbw b Sharma                    13
S. Broad lbw b Ashwin                      1
J. Anderson not out                        2
Extras (b9, lb4)                          13
Total (all out, 89.4 overs)    287
Fall: 1-26 (Cook), 2-98 (Jennings), 3-112 (Malan), 4-216 (Root), 5-223 (Bairstow), 6-224 (Buttler), 7-243 (Stokes), 8-278 (Rashid), 9-283 (Broad), 10-287 (Curran)
Bowling: Yadav 17-2-56-1; Sharma 17-1-46-1; Ashwin 26-7-62-4; Shami 19.4-2-64-3; Pandya 10-1-46-0
India 1st Innings
M. Vijay lbw b Curran                     20
S. Dhawan c Malan b Curran                26
KL Rahul b Curran                          4
V. Kohli c Broad b Rashid                149
A. Rahane c Jennings b Stokes             15
D. Karthik b Stokes                        0
H. Pandya lbw b Curran                    22
R. Ashwin b Anderson                      10
M. Shami c Malan b Anderson                2
I. Sharma lbw b Rashid                     5
U. Yadav not out                           1
Extras (b4, lb11, nb4, w1)                20
Total (all out, 76 overs)      274
Fall: 1-50 (Vijay), 2-54 (Rahul), 3-59 (Dhawan), 4-100 (Rahane), 5-100 (Karthik), 6-148 (Pandya), 7-169 (Ashwin), 8-182 (Shami), 9-217 (Sharma), 10-274 (Kohli)
Bowling: Anderson 22-7-41-2; Broad 10-2-40-0 (3nb); Curran 17-1-74-4 (1w); Rashid 8-0-31-2; Stokes 19-4-73-2 (1nb)
England second innings
A Cook b Ashwin 0
K Jennings not out 5
Extras: 4 (b 4)
Total (for one wicket, 3.4 overs) 9
Fall: 1-9 (Cook)
Bowling: Shami 2-2-0-0; R Ashwin 1.4-0-5-1 
 
 

AFP

Published: Thu 2 Aug 2018, 10:37 PM

Last updated: Fri 3 Aug 2018, 11:43 PM

Recommended for you