KL Rahul headlined India’s dominance on Day 1 of the second Test versus England, at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground, London on Thursday (August 12). The Indian opener had missed out on a century in the series opener, at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, but looked in his elements once again and played a classy and impressive knock on the opening day to take Virat Kohli-led India to 273-3 at stumps.
Rahul stitched an impressive 126-run stand for the opening wicket with Rohit Sharma, which was India’s first-ever century opening partnership outside Asia since 2011. Following Rohit’s dismissal on 83, Rahul switched gears and kept the scoreboard ticking with his immaculate timing whereas he didn’t lose concentration and respected the good balls too. During his 117-run stand with skipper Kohli (42) for the third wicket, Rahul reached his 6th Test ton overall (3rd versus England).
While Rahul became India’s third centurion as an opener at Lord’s, he also joined former opener-turned-commentator Virender Sehwag in a special list. Both Sehwag and Rahul now have four Test tons outside Asia while playing as openers in whites. Sunil Gavaskar heads the list, with as many as 15 hundreds outside Asia.
The opening day of the Lord’s Test started with Joe Root winning the toss as England decided to bowl first. Interestingly, Kohli & Co. also would’ve bowled first but ended the day on a high with 273 runs on board for the loss of 3 wickets only. Rohit-Rahul continued from where they’d left in the series opener and bettered their previous Test’s opening stand (97). While Rohit missed out on a deserving ton, which could’ve been his first-ever outside home, Rahul has taken India to a strong position.
