IND vs ENG Live Score, 2nd Test, Day 1 Live Updates: Rohit races to 80 as India makes 106/3 at Lunch; Kohli out for 0

Hello and welcome to Sportstar's live coverage of the 2nd Test between India and England from the MA Chidambaram in Chennai.

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LIVE COMMENTARY

India 106/3 after 26 overs: LUNCH. Rahane nearly cops a brute of a bouncer from Stones as the sides head into lunch. In what could have been a terrific session of revival for India, the side has lost its top-order cheaply. Gill and Kohli were sent back for ducks while Pujara held fort for a while before holing out.

 

And at one end, it has been out-and-out Hitman show. Rohit has devoured the England bowlers in an authoritative manner as he cruised to 80 in the first session! England, has however, climbed to the top with Leach and Moeen Ali fishing out India's big men - Pujara and Kohli. 

Stay tuned as we return in around 20 minutes.

India 100/3 after 25 overs: India crosses 100 and Rohit has brought it up in style with a drag-drive down the ground off Leach. Rohit is on a run-a-ball 75 and has seemed to bat on a track distinct from the Indian batsmen. He has applied his body well against the spinners, leaning low on the front-foot and has looked a completely different batsman ever since.

India 90/3 after 22 overs: Ali to Kohli. OUT! Bowled him! A cracking delivery from Ali to castle the Indian captain.  Ali invites Kohli for the drive and drifts it in massively and hits the top of off! Kohli is flummoxed with his magical delivery and looks back at Rohit in suprise. A massive jolt for India in this session as it loses the skipper for a duck. Virat Kohli b Ali 0 (5b 0x4 0x6)

This is the first time in Test cricket Virat Kohli has been dismissed for a duck by a spinner.

India 85/2 after 21 overs: Leach to Pujara. OUT! An easy catch is presented to Ben Stokes at slips. Lapse in application from Pujara and he has gifted his wicket away.  Cheteshwar Pujara c Stokes b Leach 21 (58b 2x4 0x6)

India 75/1 after 18 overs: India is cruising on in the first session here and Rohit has taken on the mantle to assault. Ali and Leach have managed to come in with the odd good ball to surprise Rohit but has not been consistent on this pitch so far.

Highest Conversion of 50s into 150s at home since 2000:- [min. three 150s] 29.2% Virat Kohli, 27.3% Rohit Sharma, 27.3% Gary Kirsten, 27.3% Labuschagne, 26.7% Tom Latham

India 60/1 after 15 overs: FIFTY FOR THE HITMAN! Two delectable sweeps  race to the boundary off Leach and Rohit has dominated the bowlers en route a 47-ball fifty!

 

50-run partnership for Rohit and Pujara and the Hitman has dominated this with 42 runs in a stroke-filled inning so far. Pujara has looked rock solid at one end as allowed Rohit to blunt the bowlers.

Moeen Ali into the attack. After nearly two years.

India 48/1 after 13 overs: And Leach has Rohit, nearly! Rohit presses forward but the bat is much farther away from the pads. Leach induces the edge and Stokes nearly misses the ball inches ahead of him at first slip.

Rohit Sharma has hit atleast one six in 13 of the 16 Tests that he has played n India.

India 48/1 after 12 overs: Rohit on the prowl. Stokes keeps it short and instantly pays the price as Rohit pulls it beautifully for a six over mid-wicket. Stokes straightens yet chips in another short one and Rohit uses his wrists to crack another boundary through deep fine leg.

Ben Stokes into the attack as well.

India 31/1 after 9 overs: Positive footwork from Rohit this time around but Leach has him for a scare for a brief moment. Rohit attempts a fine sweep against Leach's slider in to him and the ball hits the pads. England goes for the review and loses it as it misses the stumps by a fair bit.

Always a thought when he aces those drives early on, isn't it?

 

Jack Leach into the attack. Early trouble for Rohit and Pujara?

India 29/1 after 8 overs: Stone and Broad have attempted to attack Rohit's stumps with a touch of extra pace. Stone has already touched 150ks and with the ball stopping a bit on the pitch, the batsmen haven't had it easy timing the ball. Rohit is however, fending off all the loose balls to the boundary.

Cheteshwar Pujara receives treatment after showing signs of pain in his wrist
India 16/1 after 5 overs: Rohit quells Broad! Broad has Rohit in an uncertain position as he nearly jags back a ball to the stumps. Rohit retorts with a delightful touch down the ground for a cracking straight drive to the boundary.

Stone nearly touches 90mph in his second over!

India 0/1 after 2 overs: Stone to Gill. OUT! Stones hits the pad in line and the umpire has given it! Rohit and Gill decide against the review and sure they are. Stone's brought it in to Gill with pace and the opener surprisingly decided to not offer a shot.  Shubman Gill lbw b Stone 0 (3b 0x4 0x6)

 

India 0/0 after 1 over: A testing over from Stuart Broad first up. Rohit has looked positive in his stride as well and has left the ball outside the off-stump channel precisely. The pitch seems to induce some uneven bounce first up.

Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill walk down to the crease as Joe Root leads England out to the field.  Stuart Broad up with the new ball.

Action resumes at Chepauk! 

Podcast: The host lost the 1st Test, pressing pause on the momentum post its triumph Down Under. As crowds return to the stadium for the 2nd Test, Vijay Lokapally, Shayan Acharya and Wriddhaayan Bhattacharyya discuss what India needs to do to bounce back in the series.

Most Tests by India at a Venue: 42 - Kolkata, 34 - Chennai*, 34 - Delhi, 25 - Mumbai, 23 - Bangalore

India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj England XI: Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Dan Lawrence, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wk), Moeen Ali, Olly Stone, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach

 

 

Toss: India wins the Toss and elects to bat.

Jasprit Bumrah, Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar make way for Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.

Olly Stone pips Chris Woakes to make the England XI.

Toss time, folks!

Latest: Axar Patel will make his Test debut. The all-rounder has received cap no.302 from skipper Virat Kohli!

Kuldeep Yadav, is seen warming up too and that may mean Washington Sundar will be benched for the crucial Test.

 

8:45 am: The Toss is up in another 15 minutes. Kohli's run with the coin has gone against him off late. Can the turnaround begin from there?

8:30 am: An hour away from action. Chepauk welcomes the return of cricket-crazy fans and a tinge of spin on Day 1!

 

Certainly, a surreal return for many!

 

Stats Preview

Average of Indian players in the second match of a series: Rahane 58.40, Kohli 54.56, Rohit 45.38, Pujara 44.07, Pant 32.05 Test Average since Jan 2020: 32.78 Cheteshwar Pujara, 27.69 Ajinkya Rahane, 24.87 Virat Kohli, 24.50 Rohit Sharma

Virat Kohli needs 106 runs to become the first Indian and third overall captain to score 12000 international runs. The other two to achieve the feat are Ricky Ponting (15440 runs) and Graeme Smith (14878 runs).

Ravichandran Ashwin (347 wickets) needs three more wickets to complete 350 international wickets at home. He will be the third Indian to achieve the feat behind Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

Stuart Broad (517) needs three wickets more to surpass the tally of Courtney Walsh (519) to become the third most successful Test paceman. Root will become the most successful English skipper in Test cricket with another Test win (27 wins). England is one win away from equaling Australia's record of seven successive wins by a visiting team in Asia.

Match Preview

Virat Kohli's invincible side finds itself in a rare spot in its den. With Joe Root's men dealing a massive body blow in the first Test with a 227-run win, India was forced to recede to the drawing room and rewire on the chinks in its armour.

Despite the extravagant batting lineup at its disposal, India came under the pump as England's plans hit the nail right from the Toss.

With the comeback of fans and a pitch finally being curated to suit its style, India may have caught hold of  a certain momentum ahead of Saturday's first session. Add to that, England's decision to to rest veteran Jimmy Anderson and in-form offie Dom Bess while Jofra Archer is ruled to injury and Jos Buttler has flown back home.

India vs England, 2nd Test: Kohli & Co. eye redemption after sobering defeat  

England has roped in Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Ben Foakes and Ollie Stone into its 12-man squad ahead of the Test. Despite the spin all-rounder Moeen Ali making a return to the Test squad after two years, India would be wary of the threat that the 33-year-old may bring in.

WATCH: CD Gopinath, the only surviving member of India's first-ever Test win in 1952  against England in Chennai, relives the historic moment.

 

In his last tour to India in 2016, Ali shone bright in a woeful tour for the visitor. In five Tests, Ali picked up 10 wickets while being England's second best bet with the bat with 381 runs including two hundreds to his name.

India's premier batsmen Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane have hit a rough patch with the Mumbaikars failing to set the tone with the bat. With a slightly depleted English attack taking guard, Rohit and Rahane would be eyeing to set the record straight and lead the Indian batting one again.

How Rishabh Pant's mother put him on fast lane to Team India  

As India sets up to take on the visitor in a track that would be conducive to spin from Day 1, Kohli will be tempted to move in with three spinners. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel is likely to make his Test debut by replacing Shahbaz Nadeem with his lower-order batting providing an edge. That could also mean the return of Kuldeep Yadav in whites who may go onto replace Washington Sundar. Sundar, despite his fine performances with the bat, made the Indian spin attack seem one-dimensional in the first Test with offie Ravichandran Ashwin leading the roost.

As we gear up for the first session, all eyes will be on the all-crucial toss and the possible lineups that could stack up to play out another crucial Test match in the context of the World Test Championships.

What they said

"I am sure it will turn from day No. 1. We will have to wait and see how it plays in the first session and take it on from there. We have to forget what happened in the first Test and focus on playing good cricket. We know these conditions really well. Don't think it'll be tricky as such. The sooner we adjust to the wicket, the better it will be," Ajinkya Rahane on the nature of the Chepauk pitch

"In the first innings of the first Test, Bessy (Dom Bess) produced a brilliant delivery to get rid of him. We have to keep delivering our best balls time and again and try and build pressure on him. We know he is one of the world's best players and desperate to prove a point this week," Joe Root on trying to keep Indian captain Virat Kohli under the pump.

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SQUADS

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Siraj, Hardik Pandya, K.L. Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Shardul Thakur.

England (12 announced): Joe Root (captain), Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Olly Stone.

Umpires: Nitin Menon & Virender Sharma. Third umpire; Anil Chowdhary. Match Referee: Javagal Srinath.