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India faces uphill task to overhaul England's huge total
Rajkot: In reply to England's mammoth 1st inning total of 537, India scored a confident 63 for no loss at stumps on 2nd day of the 1st of five -match test cricket series here at Saurashtra Cricket Associati on ground here on Thursday.
Indian openers Murali Vijay and old war horse Gautam Gambhir were at the crease with 25 and 28 runs respectively. India still has an uphill task to overhaul England score, saving the follow on being the first frontier to overcome.
Earlier, England was all out for 537 runs in 159.3 overs riding on three centuries by Root, Moeen Ali and Stokes.
Resuming the day's play at 311/4, England dominated the Indian attack before being all out at the stroke of tea. Root and Ali shared a partnership of 179 run for the fourth wicket scoring 124 and 117 runs respectively. Root, a highly regarded batsman in the contemporary cricket, set the tone for England thus thwarting the strategy of India to play five specialist bowlers, a rarity as far as Indian side is concerned. It was Root's 11th test century while Moeen Ali and all rounder Stokes hit their 4th individual centuries in tests.
For India, the bowling honours were shared by Jadeja (3) and Umesh Yadav, R Ashwin and Mohd Shami (2 each). None of the Indian bowlers really troubled the England attack as it scored the runs at the run rate of 3.36, a good proposition in the test cricket.
India will now require 338 runs to avoid a follow on which should not be a very tough task on rather batting-friendly ground of Rajkot hosting its maiden test match. Some floowed catches were low point in Indian innings which proved dear in the end.
Brief scores
England: 1st inning 537 ( Root 124, Moeen Ali 117 and Stokes 128)
India: 1st inning 63 for 0 (Vijay 25 n.o gambhir 28 n.o)
Arnima Dwivedi
A journalist, presently working as a sub-editor with newstrack.com. I love exploring new genres of humans and humanity.
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