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.

England v India: Specsavers 1st Test - Day Two

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.

Kohli v Anderson: The Titans Clash

Kohli's match-up with his arch-nemesis, Anderson has been the talk of the town for a while and God did it live up to its reputation today! The Indian star walked in with his team in bit of a bother as Curran wreaked havoc from the other end. Anderson's unbroken 15-over spell is indicative that he was raring to have a go at the Indian skipper and work over any of his weaknesses that were so terribly exploited the last time around Kohli traveled to these shores. The moment he faced Anderson till stumps, it seemed like it was all about ego for Kohli. As if he didn't want to get out to Jimmy Anderson again. And for that, we witnessed a remarkable medley of mental and physical endurance from the Indian skipper to brush away his demons from the past and keep things in control.

All we saw was disciplined Cricket; he really has matured and become wiser than how he fared four years ago. The hands did not poke around the off-stump and neither chased away at mere rubbish. Rather, the movement was compact. The head still, the eyes fixated and the feet slanted towards the off-side whenever he played a forward defensive stroke. This allowed him to manoeuvre with a bit more ease rather than opening up and ultimately playing away from the body. Kohli complimented this with a soft-hand playing technique, ensuring that the odd edges won't carry all the way to the slips cordon. He sapped in the pressure, the tenacity that was required to keep the ball leaving even when it was right in his arc to smash through covers region. Anderson didn't leak any runs to Kohli but Kohli remained adamant on the idea that he needed to see off the veteran pacer and look to score from the other end.

James Anderson was equal to the task, though. His wizardry boasts all the trickery and guile to master seam-bowling. Throughout the day, he worked on Kohli's fourth-stump region. His lines and lengths were next to impeccable. Unblemished. He had the Duke ball talking all the way through his prolonged first spell. And he almost got his man again. Anderson delivered a peach of a ball, pitched right in the middle of the channel that Kohli has been found wanting in previously, got a genuine outside edge but Dawid Malan spilled it at 2nd slip. A chance gone begging that might well change the outset of this match, later on.

Kohli kept nicking off to Anderson's away-seamers every once in a while. But with his delicately late strokes and soft hands, the edges just wouldn't carry to the slips; at least three to four falling marginally short of diving slip fielders. This wasn't all, though. Anderson's a virtuoso when it comes to swing bowling in English conditions. Infrequently and with no pattern attached to it, Anderson bowled the in-swingers that suddenly jagged back and startled the Indian skipper. Twice he was squared up by these surprise deliveries, once he almost got himself LBW as he walked across to flick an incoming delivery towards the onside. Anderson couldn't get the better of Kohli but he would believe he had the last laugh and, rightfully so.

Stokes's Gutsy Spell

Stokes returned honors in the post-lunch session and lifted England through a spirited spell of fiery fast-bowling. With the nearly 30-over old Duke ball reversing a bit, Root decided to bring on Stokes to have a go at the Indian middle order. From the commencement of his spell, the Englishman kept troubling Ajinkya Rahane with his late, lateral movement both off the pitch and in the air. It was only a matter of time before Rahane played an ugly stab and handed the simplest of catches into the slips cordon. Stokes got a sniff and his pace incremented significantly. An over later, he routed out Dinesh Karthik's middle-stump: this time a scuttling in-swinger that found a way through bat and pad and rattled the woodwork: a wondrous sight for any fast-bowler. Stokes beautifully worked over Pandya, too, and induced a mistake only for Alaistair Cook to drop a dolly at first slip and leave Stokes fuming in despair. It was a vehement effort, nevertheless, that rejuvenated England's chances in this game.

Kohli Wagging With The Tail

Sometimes it's not about how deep a team bats but how well its batsmen manipulate with the tail. Kohli put on an absolute masterclass of what's the most exquisite methodology to resort to when your team is reeling at 182-8 and trailing by daunting, 100-plus runs. Kohli waltzed his way into the 90's and once Ishant Sharma fell to an Adil Rashid's googly, it was all about the Indian skipper double-bluffing and outsmarting his English counterpart.

Stealing quick singles here, resolute defense there and all this was glorified by an odd break-away stroke; a stroke of such class and preeminence that even boundary-riders stood no chance of halting it. He ensured that the tail-enders were exposed as little as possible to the seam-bowl barrage. In the process, he faced more than three times the deliveries faced by India's last three batsmen and thus scored 92 runs of the 105 runs made in the last three stands. On his way, Kohli registered his first ever ton on English soil and probably one of the best he has ever made, too. given the effort put behind it and the context of the game in which it was scored. All pumped up, he kissed his wedding badge and drenched into the overwhelming applause from the same crowd that had blatantly booed him when he came out to bat. A remarkable innings to be penned down in the history books forever.

Doppelganger Of Cook's 1st Innings Dismissal

If one observes Cook's dismissals in both the innings, it would be quite a conundrum to believe that they were two separate wickets: to the naked eye, it would seem more like a replay rather than Ashwin emulating himself and bowling yet another of those dreamlike deliveries to get rid off England's greatest batsman twice in two days. That, too, in exactly the same manner. A beautifully, yet irritatingly flighted delivery that pitches on middle and leg and takes the slightest of turns to squeeze past Cook's forward-prod and kiss the top of off. Does it get any better? Especially the fact that a ball described this was bowled in just the fourth over of the innings with a brand-new, cherry-like Duke ball that is more prone to seam-bowling than extracting spin out of a Day 2 pitch.

With five or so overs remaining in the day and two left-handers on the scene, Kohli decided to play the gamble and bring on his premier spinner. In what proved to be the last over in a fascinating Cricket day, Ashwin pulled out yet another crackerjack to leave one of the greats of the game, dumbfounded. It was the dip that did him again. With extra reps on the new cherry, Ashwin lobbed it around his leg stump and drew him forward. The flight was cleverly thrown above Cook's eye line. Subsequently, Cook was found napping at the crease. He half-halfheartedly strode forward but it was no way near a fully-fledged stride. The ball gripped from the surface, passed his bat by a country mile and the haunting sound of timber crashing went off in the background. And there went Kohli, screaming his heart out and ensuring his presence was felt.

The pitch is already gripping and the Poms are already shuddering. India can sniff a victory here.