Rahul's classy 86, Jadeja's aggression carry India to 309/5 at tea

Hyderabad: KL Rahul’s classy effort and Ravindra Jadeja’s measured aggression carried India to 309 for five at tea for a slender yet significant lead despite a spirited fight by England bowlers on the second day of the first Test here on Friday.

India are now 63 runs ahead of the visitors, with Ravindra Jadeja (45 batting) and KS Bharat (9 batting) manning the crease.

Despite that lead, the more prevalent feeling inside the Indian camp after the second session of the day will be one of slight disappointment, as none of their set frontline batters did not score a hundred.

Throughout his 123-ball 86, Rahul was a picture of imperious timing and meticulous shot-selection. He also seemed to have imbibed a lot of confidence from that hundred against South Africa last month at Centurion.

The way he dealt with the leg-spin of Rehan Ahmed was breathtaking, biffing him for two sixes in the space of four balls.

Rahul moved closer to the ball and deposited it over the sight-screen for the first maximum, and then rocked back to smoke an absolute pie over mid-wicket for another six.

It was total domination from a batter who showed the right kind of technique to negate a slightly tacky pitch.

But all the hard work was undone when Rahul pulled a half-tracker by left-arm spinner Tom Hartely to pick Ahmed, the lone fielder in the deep at mid-wicket.

With it, he also missed a chance to achieve the rare feat of scoring a hundred in the 50th Test. But Jadeja’s ability to manage risks effectively kept India on the hunt.

Shreyas Iyer (35) offered a similar story. The right-hander scratched around for a good part of his 63-ball stay and seemed to have weathered the storm, especially against pacer Mark Wood who tested him with a slew of short-pitched deliveries.

But Shreyas let the opportunity to build on slip away when he played a slog sweep of Ahmed to give a simple catch to Hartley at deep mid-wicket and the Mumbaikar will need efforts with more substance to fight for his place when Virat Kohli returns from the third Test.

India made 87 runs in the middle passage of the day, losing two wickets, and it would have been even tougher for India had the England bowlers been more consistent with their lines and lengths in this period.

Though slow in nature, there was enough spin to exploit in the pitch.

But apart from part-timer Joe Root, the three first-choice spinners could not really manage to deny scoring avenues for the Indian batters.

Earlier, India made an inauspicious start to the day, losing overnight batter Yashasvi Jaiswal (80) in the fourth ball of the morning’s first over.

Jaiswal smashed a four through long-on in the second ball of that over but his attempt for an encore two balls later resulted in a tame return catch to Root.

Shubman Gill (23), the other overnight batter, too could not kick on as his attempt to swat Hartley ended in the hands of Ben Duckett at mid-wicket, giving the left-arm spinner his maiden Test wicket.