Five Talking Points From An Enthralling Day 2
Sam Curran Bursts Through Indian Top-Order
Sam Curran, today, showed glimpses of the young, all-round prodigy that can breathe stability into this English side. India might have underestimated the teeny figure before coming into the match and Curran proved them dead wrong. He started off with mild 80's, taking the ball into the right-handers. An odd ball nipping away did seem to trouble Murali Vijay as he was caught chasing the away swingers quite a few times. That's exactly what led to his downfall as a big, booming nip-backer, then, pinned him in-front and although the on-field umpire gave it not-out, hawk-eye revealed that it would have gone onto crash in the leg stump. Two deliveries later, Curran's sucker ball was woefully managed by KL Rahul as he dragged back an expansive drive straight onto the timber work.
The 20-year old, though, wasn't done just yet. He was buzzing. He was on a roll and the 15,000 odd fans at the Edgbaston were resonantly backing him. Curran plucked out Shikar Dhawan: a perfectly-pitched delivery round about the off-stump, shaping away to take the outside edge and fly away to 2nd slip. An absolute treat to watch. In a space of merely 8 balls, Curran had turned the game on its head.