MUMBAI: Murali Vijay and Cheteswar Pujara led India’s strong response after Jos Buttler’s 76 pushed England’s first innings total to 400 on the second day of the fourth Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Indian duo added an unbeaten 107 for the second wicket as India ended the day’s play at a comfortable 146 for 1, trailing England’s total by 254.

On a second day surface that already offered significant turn, India faced a tricky proposition having been given a taste of their own medicine by a wagging England tail. Vijay, who faced several questions over his form and his technique against short-pitched bowling, stamped his class with a confident half-century and in the company of a familiar partner, prospered as the day wore on, allaying any fears of India conceding ground in the Test.

England’s ploy to play four seamers on this Mumbai surface meant each of the fast bowler was used in short bursts and in a more run-containing role. Vijay and opening partner KL Rahul negotiated the seamers without much trouble, even if they added only 15 runs in the first seven overs. The absolute lack of assistance for the quicker bowlers meant Cook turned to operating Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid in tandem as early as the eighth over. Both Vijay and Rahul didn’t let their impression of the pitch dictate batting terms. This was on view when Rahul opened his shoulders to hit Rashid over the top off the leggie’s first delivery.

However, Rahul’s impetuosity led to his downfall as he attempted to play Moeen against the turn and was cleaned up for 24. That dismissal brought the in-form Pujara in to the middle and with it calm to India’s innings.

Earlier in the day, in an eerie similarity to their 2006 effort at this very venue, England finished their first innings exactly on 400 with Buttler the last man to be dismissed on 76. Buttler, who plodded around for his runs late on the first evening, found a more fluent rhythm to his batting as he added a pivotal 54-run stand for the ninth wicket with Jake Ball (31). The pair had frustrated India for a good portion of the morning session after Ravichandran Ashwin accounted for the dangerous Ben Stokes to equal Kapil Dev’s tally of 23 Test match fifers. Ravindra Jadeja added the wickets of Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid but the stubborn Buttler-Ball association was a harder nut to crack.

Having delayed the introduction of the second new ball until the 122nd over, Virat Kohli offered the spinners a harder new ball to end the defiant stand straight after Tea. Jake Ball perished soon after appearing to hurt his shoulder while attempting a cut short. When he attempted an encore against Ashwin, Parthiv Patel was alert to hold on to the feather edge to give India much-needed relief.

Buttler hit a six off Ashwin and brought up England’s 400 before Jadeja cleaned him as India’s spinners accounted for all the ten England wickets. The match is setup tantalisingly for the moving day on Saturday with England’s spinners not matching their Indian counterparts for rhythm despite the obvious assistance from the surface.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND 1st innings:

A. Cook st Patel b Jadeja46

K. Jennings c Pujara b Ashwin112

J. Root c Kohli b Ashwin21

M. Ali c Nair b Ashwin50

J. Bairstow c U. Yadav b Ashwin14

B. Stokes c Kohli b Ashwin31

J. Buttler b Jadeja76

C. Woakes c Patel b Jadeja11

A. Rashid b Jadeja4

J. Ball c Patel b Ashwin31

J. Anderson not out0

EXTRAS: (b 1, lb 2, nb 1)4

TOTAL: (all out, 130.1 overs)400

FALL OF WKTS: 1-99, 2-136, 3-230, 4-230, 5-249, 6-297, 7-320, 8-334, 9-388, 10-400.

BOWLING: Kumar 13-0-49-0, U Yadav 11-2-38-0, Ashwin 44-4-112-6, J Yadav 25-3-89-0 (1nb), Jadeja 37.1-5-109-4.

INDIA 1st innings:

L. Rahul b Ali24

M. Vijay not out70

C. Pujara not out47

EXTRAS: (b1, lb4)5

TOTAL (1 wicket, 52 overs) 146

FALL OF WKTS: 1-39

BOWLING: Anderson 8-4-22-0, Woakes 5-2-15-0, Ali 15-2-44-1, Rashid 13-1-49-0, Ball 4-2-4-0, Stokes 4-2-4-0, Root 3-1-3-0

TO BAT: V. Kohli (capt), K. Nair, R. Ashwin, P. Patel, R. Jadeja, J. Yadav, B. Kumar, U. Yadav.

UMPIRES: Bruce Oxenford (AUS), Marais Erasmus (RSA)

TV UMPIRE: C. Shamshuddin (IND)

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

Published in Dawn December 10th, 2016