Yashasvi Jaiswal produced a masterclass innings
Credit: Reuters Photo
India were 182 for three at tea on the opening day of second Test against England at Birmingham with Yahasvi Jaiswal missing out on a well-deserved hundred.
Resuming on 98 for two after lunch after being put in to bat, Jaiswal and skipper Shubman Gill steadily built a partnership before England skipper Ben Stokes made the breakthrough.
Gill had taken the majority of the strike in the second session and when Jaiswal was on 87, he sliced at a wide delivery from Stokes and was caught behind by Jamie Smith.
Gill (42 batting off 109) looked comfortable in the middle alongside his deputy Rishabh Pant (14 batting off 28) on another good batting surface in the five-match series.
Earlier England retained the same 11 that won the first Test at Leeds while India brought in Akash Deep in place of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah his place while making two interesting changes, leaving out Sai Sudharsan for Washington Sundar and replacing Shardul Thakur with Nitish Kumar Reddy.
With not much happening in the post-lunch session session, the English fans in the iconic Eric Hollies Stand sporadically made plenty of noise to push the home team.
India added 84 runs in 28 wickets in the session for the loss of Jaiswal. In the 34th over, Gill survived a DRS lbw call off a Brydon Carse nip backer due to an inside edge. Against the sole spinner Shoaib Bashir, Gill stepped out from time to time and on one occasion dispatched him over extra cover.
Pant joined him late in the session and took his time to settle down before using his feet against Bashir for a six over mid-on.
Earlier, Jaiswal maintained his aggression despite being tested by the England pacers while Karun Nair (31 off 50) showed promise at number three before being dismissed late in the morning session.
Josh Tongue was on the receiving end of some cracking shots off Jaiswal's blade as the opener smashed two boundaries, leaping off his feet to cut a delivery over point and bring up his fifty and was well on course for his second successive hundred in the five-match series before getting out for a soft dismissal.
(With inputs from Agencies)