Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan scored 20 and 26 respectively against the moving ball, but once Sam Curran got one, he got three to leave India at 59/3. In next to no time after that, India were 100/5 and had it not been for Kohli’s outstanding 149, the Edgbaston Test could have looked very different at the end of the second day.
As it turned out, after England were bowled out for 287 early on the day, India put up 274, Kohli’s 57-run stand with Umesh Yadav for the last wicket the biggest partnership of the innings – Yadav contributed one run in it.
If that left things on an even keel, Ravichandran Ashwin’s beauty to hit Alastair Cook’s stumps for the second time in the Test seemingly tilted the balance slightly in India’s favour. The third day will start with England 22 ahead with nine second-innings wickets in hand.
“He showed terrific discipline. At no instance did he reach out for the ball, and probably couple of our other batsmen reached out, which caused their downfall,” pointed out batting coach Sanjay Bangar.
“That is something which we’ve been speaking of, practising quite a lot. On days, these things come off, and on certain days, those things don’t come out. Definitely the batsmen are aware and are taking all efforts to correct the errors.”
Raving about Kohli, as most people who watched the innings did, Bangar added, “He’s a versatile player. At times, quality players keep on assessing their own games and where they want to progress. The awareness that is required under certain conditions … but he does that really well. Again, terrific discipline.
“When he bats in that fashion, he more often than not gets the team into good positions. Passing an individual landmark doesn’t mean much to him. More than that, if it’s a good day for him, he makes sure it’s a great day for the team. That’s why he got 149 and it narrowed down the gap beautifully.”
Cook’s wicket off what turned out to be the last ball of the day was a stunner from Ashwin, very similar to the way he got the former England captain out in the first innings. That will have made the Indians the happier of the two teams at close of play, but Bangar isn’t getting too excited yet.
“The gap is a mere 18 (22) runs. Definitely the game is really well placed and the wicket which we got close to the end of day’s play has put the game in a very, very good balance,” he said.
