2nd Test: India's lead swells to 357 as Rahul hits 55, Pant makes unbeaten 41

Birmingham, July 5 (IANS) KL Rahul hit a calm 55 while Rishabh Pant was at his rollicking, yet chaotic, best to hit an unbeaten 41, as India’s lead swelled to 357 runs after reaching 177/3 in 38 overs at lunch on Day Four of second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at Edgbaston here on Saturday.

Rahul, resuming the fourth day's play at 28, managed to hit his 18th half-century in Tests, coming off 78 balls, before being castled by Josh Tongue. Pant was in his usual quick-hitting self to smash five fours and two sixes while sharing an unbeaten partnership of 51 for the fourth wicket with captain Shubman Gill, who held fort with 24 not out.

It will be interesting to see if India manages to get a lead of 500 runs in the second session before putting England into a mammoth chase, especially with a rain threat around.

The day’s play began with Rahul taking two fours off Brydon Carse, with the second one coming off an outside edge flying past the gully. Carse then put Karun Nair on a stern test of short balls – once being hit on the grille of the helmet, and another time the ball flying between the gap at slips for four.

Though Nair got three boundaries off Carse, the pacer got his reward for bowling an excellent bowling spell as he extracted Nair’s edge once again on an attempted expansive drive and was caught by keeper Jamie Smith leaping to his right to send the batter back for 26.

Rahul then notched up another excellent fifty on the tour with a solid drive to long-off, fetching him three runs. But when Rahul went for a solid drive off Josh Tongue, he was left in disbelief as the pacer got the 138kmph ball to angle and sneak through Rahul's defences to send the middle stump on a cartwheel ride, with the batter falling for 55.

Pant’s entry was an eventful one, pulling Tongue for four behind square, before dancing down the pitch to smack a clean, straight six. Pant got a reprieve on 10 when Zak Crawley dropped his catch at mid-off on Ben Stokes’ bowling.

That turned out to be a costly drop as Pant slapped and swept Tongue for four and six, before pulling Shoaib Bashir thrice for boundaries. In between, he lost his grip on the bat handle, and his bat landed at backward square-leg, leaving everyone in splits, before a whirlwind session of Test cricket came to a close, as England got only two scalps.

Brief scores:

India 587 and 177/3 in 38 overs (KL Rahul 55, Rishabh Pant 41 not out; Josh Tongue 2-50, Brydon Carse 1-56) lead England 407 by 357 runs

--IANS

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