England stage fightback against India after Rishabh Pant's stylish century

Independent

4 hours ago

Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah lived up to their box office billings but England battled back with ball and bat against India in the first Rothesay Test.
Pant became India's third centurion of the innings with a swashbuckling 135 – following first-day tons from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill – but India collapsed from 430 for three to 471 all out.
A clatter of wickets either side of lunch on day two was followed by a near hour-long rain delay, after which Bumrah lit up a gloomy Headingley with an astonishing new-ball burst under the floodlights.
Zak Crawley perished in the first over of the reply, looking to play to leg but dumbfounded by late movement as he edged to slip, while Bumrah might also have accounted for Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope.
As it was, the pair weathered the onslaught – in which nigh-on every Bumrah delivery was an event – and tucked into India's other bowlers to lift England to 107 for one at tea, trailing by 364.
Duckett was dropped on 15 by the usually dependable Ravindra Jadeja at backward point while both the left-handed opener and Pope edged between third slip and gully.
At the other end Mohammed Siraj was ransacked for 23 from his first three overs while Prasidh Krishna was ineffective, with Duckett and Pope pressing the accelerator in Bumrah's absence.
Siraj had a much better second spell and might have had Pope on 34, but an lbw appeal was turned down and a review showed the ball was only trimming the top of the stumps as luck went England's way.
Duckett won the race to fifty, ending the session on 53 not out, with the under-fire Pope unbeaten on 48.
India held sway on 359 for three overnight after being asked to bat first and Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse again struggled to make an impact as Gill and Pant stretched the tourists' lead.
While Gill bedded in, Pant went through the gears and went after Shoaib Bashir, greeting his first ball of the day with a paddle for four then a huge hit for six in the same over to move into the 90s.
Pant brought up a seventh Test ton in style with a one-handed six off Bashir before removing his helmet and gloves and celebrating the achievement with a somersault.
Gill sought to get to 150 in similarly buccaneering fashion but found only Josh Tongue in the deep to depart for 147, setting in motion England's recovery.
Nair's first Test innings for India since 2017 was a brief affair as a drive off England captain Ben Stokes was excellently pouched by his deputy Pope, diving full length to his left.
Tongue then took centre stage. Having been curiously overlooked up until 20 minutes before lunch, he jagged one back into Pant, who shuffled across his crease but offered no stroke and was pinned leg-before.
After Shardul Thakur nicked off to give Stokes his fourth wicket, Tongue made short work of the tail. Having leaked 75 off 16 wicketless overs on Friday, he claimed four for 11 from overs on Saturday.