INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2025
Thakur plays a shot enroute to his 41 © Getty
Shardul Thakur’s fighting knock and the arrival of a limping Rishabh Pant headlined India’s fight in a bowler-dominated first session on Day 2 of the fourth Test in Manchester as the visitors managed to cross 300 despite losing a couple of wickets. Pant got to the middle after Thakur was dismissed for 41, and although he wasn’t able to run quickly, he assisted Washington Sundar in keeping England at bay. A spell of rain forced the players off the field and led to an early Lunch as India moved to 321 for 6, with 57 runs coming off 23 overs bowled in the session.
Armed with the second new ball, Jofra Archer found the outside edge of Ravindra Jadeja and Thakur’s bats in the second over of the day but both dropped short of slips. But the bowler got his reward in the same over itself, getting the left-hander to nick one again, and this time Harry Brook took a good catch at second slip. Thakur got a boundary off an inside edge in Chris Woakes’ over and also cut away a short ball for another four to keep India going.
Washington was beaten on the outside off line a couple of times and took 19 deliveries to get off the mark. His first four was a streaky boundary to third-man off Archer which took India past the 300-run mark. Thakur then survived an England review for caught-behind in Ben Stokes’ over, with replays revealing the ball deflected off the shoulder. Soon after that, Thakur cracked a cover drive for his fifth four as India made steady progress in the first hour despite losing Jadeja.
The pacers continued to find help in the second hour and the plays and misses continued, but the sixth wicket pair grit it out until Thakur went for a drive off Stokes and edged it to gully, which ended a 48-run stand. And then, coming out on the field to a standing ovation was Pant who had retired hurt on Day 1 after a blow to his right foot which was later determined to be a fracture. He managed a run after playing a cut off Stokes but was finding it difficult to reach the ball when he tried to play his shots. Pant and Sundar added 7 off 20 deliveries before the rain break led to the end of the session.
Brief scores: India 321/6 (Sai Sudharsan 61, Yashasvi Jaiswal 58, KL Rahul 46, Shardul Thakur 41; Ben Stokes 3-55) vs England.
© Cricbuzz
