[Watch] First-ball wicket! Ben Stokes cleans up Rohit Sharma on his bowling comeback after 8-month gap on Day 2 of IND vs ENG 5th Test
England captain Ben Stokes provided the much-needed breakthrough for England on Day 2 of the fifth Test against India at HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Friday, March 8.
The medium pacer dismissed India captain Rohit Sharma to break the 171-run partnership between him and Shubman Gill for the second wicket. Rohit departed for 103 runs off 162 balls with the aid of three sixes and 13 boundaries.
The incident took place during the 62nd over of India's innings, the second over after Lunch. Stokes bowled a good-length ball and angled in to seam away off the pitch. Rohit didn’t use his feet as the ball ripped past the outside edge to hit the top of the off-stump.
It was the first delivery from Stokes after Ashes since recovering from a knee injury. The 32-year-old all-rounder had last bowled against Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s (28 June-02 July) last year.
Watch the video below:
Ben Stokes and James Anderson bring back England into the game with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill’s wickets
England captain Ben Stokes and James Anderson brought back England in the game by dismissing centurions Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill after Lunch on Day 2.
Apart from Stokes, Anderson cleaned up Gill to reduce India to 279/3 after 62.2 overs. Gill departed for 110 off 150 deliveries, a knock studded with five sixes and 12 boundaries.
At the time of writing, the hosts were 281/3 after 63.3 overs, with debutant Devdutt Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan at the crease.
Earlier on Day 1, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 57 off 58 to go past 700 runs in the Test series.
Batting first, England were bundled out for 218 in 57.4 overs, courtesy of Zak Crawley’s knock of 79 runs off 108 balls. Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes chipped in their 20s.
Kuldeep Yadav starred with the ball, bagging a fifer. Playing his 100th Test, Ravichandran Ashwin also took four wickets.
India are currently leading the five-match Test series 3-1 following consecutive wins in Vizag, Rajkot, and Ranchi.
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