England skipper Joe Root won the toss in the second Test match and asked India to bat first under grey skies and on a pitch that had a tinge of green. James Anderson and Ollie Robinson were superb with the new ball, but the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were equally brilliant. They were disciplined outside the off stump and only after balls that were pitched right up to them when they drove through the line.
Rohit Sharma has been a revelation as an opener in this series. He continued his great run of form in this match as well. When early lunch was taking owing to the rain, the Indian score read 46 for 0 and Rohit was the man who kept the scoreboard chugging along.
He not only blunted James Anderson and Ollie Robinson but was at his aggressive best against Sam Curran as he picked up 5 boundaries off 10 deliveries off the left-armer at one stage.
Sam Curran has been picked as the seam-bowling all-rounder in the side and in home conditions with the Dukes ball, he is a decent bowler, but he was off-colour all day. Rohit took advantage of his loose bowling. He smacked four boundaries in one over off Curran and this prompted several hilarious tweets on social media where fans asked the Indian opener to not punish the rookie.
Rohit Sharma is an ODI behemoth and is perhaps the best opening batsman in both these formats, but this England tour has been a coming of age series for the right-hander. In the first Test, he scored 36 runs off 107 balls and then went on to score 83 runs here at Lord’s. His form has been a big talking point and he has formed a great opening stand with KL Rahul.
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