{"id":34518,"date":"2021-02-13T12:17:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T13:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=34518"},"modified":"2021-02-13T14:28:30","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T14:28:30","slug":"sharma-161-helps-india-to-300-6-in-second-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=34518","title":{"rendered":"Sharma 161 helps India to 300-6 in second Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n
\n

CHENNAI: Rohit Sharma scored a dazzling 161 to propel India to a healthy score in front of returning fans as England’s bowlers hit back late on the opening day of the second Test Saturday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

India reached 300 for six at stumps after electing to bat first in Chennai. Rishabh Pant, on 33, and Axar Patel, on five, were batting at close of play.<\/p>\n

Spinners Jack Leach and Moeen Ali claimed two wickets each on a pitch that offered turn. Ali bowled skipper Virat Kohli for nought to put India in trouble at 86-3.<\/p>\n

Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, who made 67, put together a fourth-wicket stand of 162 to raise the noise of cheering fans who had been allowed into the ground for the first time since the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The opener hit his seventh Test century — and first against England — and crossed 150 in his 36th five-day match to a standing ovation from the ecstatic crowd.<\/p>\n

But Leach broke through with his left-arm spin to send Sharma trudging back to the pavilion in the final session after the batsman holed out a catch to deep square leg.<\/p>\n

Sharma, who survived a tight stumping chance — given not out by the TV umpire — off Leach on 159, hit 18 fours and two sixes in his 231-ball stay.<\/p>\n

Rahane, who hit form after scores of one and nought in the first Test, soon fell to Ali, bowled on another good delivery by the off-spinner. India lost three wickets in the final session.<\/p>\n

Skipper Joe Root chipped in with his off spin to get Ravichandran Ashwin caught at short leg by Ollie Pope.<\/p>\n

Earlier Olly Stone had Shubman Gill leg before for a duck in only the second over of the day, but Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara steadied the ship with an 85-run second-wicket stand.<\/p>\n

But then Leach took Pujara for 21 and Ali’s prized scalp of Kohli left India 106 for three at lunch.<\/p>\n

Ali bowled Kohli through the gate as the Indian captain stood shocked for a few moments while the TV umpire checked to see if the bail had been dislodged by the wicketkeeper’s gloves, before walking off to stunned silence.<\/p>\n

The Indian players were greeted by whistles and chants of “Rohit, Rohit” as Indian cricket welcomed back a limited number of its raucous fanbase for the match.<\/p>\n

England made four changes from their opening win with Stuart Broad, Ali, Stone and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes making it into the side.<\/p>\n

India handed left-arm spinner Axar Patel his Test debut and brought in paceman Mohammed Siraj and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav into the team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHENNAI: Rohit Sharma scored a dazzling 161 to propel India to a healthy score in front of returning fans as England’s bowlers hit back late […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34518"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34520,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34518\/revisions\/34520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}