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India vs England, 1st Test: 5 Talking points from Day 2

Virat Kohli fastest to score 7,000 runs as captain.

India vs England, 1st Test: 5 Talking points from Day 2

India's captain Virat Kohli celebrates scoring his century on the second day of the first Test cricket match between England and India. (Photo: AFP)

Indian skipper Virat Kohli on the second day of the first Test match between India and England showed the crowd at Edgbaston why he is considered the best batsman in the world.

On Thursday (2nd August), after bowling out England, Murali Vijay (20) and Shikhar Dhawan (26) gave a decent start to the visitors, however, English paceman Sam Curran bought England back into the game by sending Vijay and No. 3 Lokesh Rahul (4) back to the pavilion in three balls. After India’s upper order was sent back, tourists failed in making any big partnership as skipper Virat Kohli took visitors to 274.

Here are the talking points from day 2:

Marvellous Virat Kohli

Unstoppable Virat Kohli single-handedly dragged India to 274, just 13 runs behind England’s first innings score. On Thursday, English crowd cheered when James Anderson ran to bowl rival captain Virat for the first time. The contest between ‘the master with the bowl’ James Anderson and ‘champion with the bat’ Virat had been awaited and built up for four years. Many cricket experts even said India’s England tour will define Virat Kohli’s character.

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Virat Kohli
India’s captain Virat Kohli. (Photo: AFP)

 

In the battle between Virat and Anderson, the English man won and then lost on the other side the Indian captain lost and then won. On the second day, Virat was dropped twice by Dawid Malan, first when he was batting at 21 (on James Anderson’s bowling) and then at 51 (when Ben Stokes was bowling). Taking advantage of dropped opportunities, Virat Kohli scored his first ever century in England.

R Ashwin vs Alastair Cook

In the second innings of England, spin wizard R Ashwin continued his dominance over star England batsman Alastair Cook as he once again removed him from the crease. R Ashwin was introduced in the attack by Virat Kohli in the second over of the game just to remove Cook from the attack and he did his job by doing so.

Just like in the first innings, Ashwin bowled to Cook, the ball dipped, pitched on middle stump, ripped away, missed the front foot prod of Alastair Cook and collected the off stump.

Alastair Cook
Bails fly as England’s Alastair Cook (L) loses his wicket for zero. (Photo: AFP)

 

This is the 9th time in 13 innings when R Ashwin has dismissed Alastair Cook.

Indian batting collapse

On Thursday, spectators once again witnessed India’s batting order getting collapsed as Virat Kohli fought a lone battle. India scored 274 runs before getting bowled out in which 149 runs were contributed by Virat Kohli and the 2nd highest scorer was Shikhar Dhawan (26). Other than Virat, no other batsman from the visitors’ camp was able to counter the English bowling attack.

Sam Curran
India’s KL Rahul (C) is bowled by England’s Sam Curran. (Photo: AFP)

 

Virat’s dominance can be seen in the stats as R Ashwin got out at 169 after that visitors added 109 runs in which Shami, Ishant and Umesh added 8 runs. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, added 91 runs.

Sam Curran stood out

The 20-year-old young English paceman Sam Curran became the talk of the town after his triplet blow (KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan) reduced India to 76 for 3 at launch.

Indian openers had given India a decent start as they added 50 runs for the opening wicket — the first fifty-plus opening stand for India in England after 18 innings. However, the entire scenario changed after Sam Curran was introduced into the attack by Joe Root.

Sam Curran
England’s Sam Curran (C) celebrates taking the wicket of India’s KL Rahul. (Photo: AFP)

 

Sam removed KL Rahul and Murali Vijay in his third over and then his third wicket came in the next over when he removed Shikhar Dhawan at 26.

Virat Kohli fastest to score 7,000 runs as captain

Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday became the fastest batter to reach the milestone of 7,000 runs in international cricket as captain, surpassing West Indies great Brian Lara.

Virat Kohli
India’s Captain Virat Kohli walks back to the pavilion. (Photo: AFP)

 

Virat Kohli just took 124 innings to score 7,000 internationals runs, the previous record holder Lara om the other hand took 164 innings to reach the same feat.

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