Rohit Sharma smashes unbeaten 80 in India's 106/3 at lunch on Day 1
Chennai: Rohit Sharma scored a sparkling 80 not out while Moeen Ali removed skipper Virat Kohli with a superb delivery as India reached 106 for three against England at lunch during a shared opening session on the first day of the second Test here on Saturday.
At lunch, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was batting on 5 while Rohit, who has so far faced 78 balls, hit 13 fours and 1 six in his delightful knock.
For England, Moeen (1/32), Olly Stone (1/14) and Jack Leach (1/23) picked up a wicket each.
Mooen struck a huge blow when he got one to dip and turn in sharply as Kohli going for a cover drive was bowled through the gate.
Rohit's innings was laced with some lovely drives and a six. He added 85 runs for the second wicket with Pujara (21, 58 balls, 2 fours) and appeared to be steering India to a good position before the spinners struck.
First, Jack Leach (1/23) tossed one up to get Pujara edge one to Ben Stokes at slip before Moeen (1/32 in 6 overs) scalped the prize wicket of Kohli.
The home side, batting first after Kohli won the toss and batted, suffered an early jolt when the pacy Olly Stone, playing his second Test, dismissed Shubman Gill for a duck.
Gill shouldered arms to a delivery that came in and was rapped on the front pad, to give England a great start.
India made three changes to their playing XI with left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Axar Patel making his debut while pacer Jasprit Bumrah was rested.
In-form Mohammed Siraj returned to the playing XI along with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who replaced Washington Sundar to play his first game in two years.
For England, Moeen Ali came in place of Dom Bess, Stuart Broad replaced James Anderson while injured Jofra Archer made way for Olly Stone. Ben Foakes replaced Jos Buttler as the wicketkeeper.
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Indo-US trade deal will destroy Indian farmers: Rahul Gandhi
Barnala (Punjab) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that the Indo-US interim trade deal will destroy Indian farmers.
Addressing the "Mazdoor Kissan Maha Rally" here, Gandhi alleged that the deal had been stalled for four months due to disagreements over the opening of the agriculture sector.
"Question arises, the work which PM did not do for four months, why did he do it within 15 minutes?" he said and asked why the trade deal was suddenly done.
Gandhi said that Modi gave a guarantee to US President Donald Trump that every year India will buy US products worth Rs 9 lakh crore.
He said that the deal will "destroy Indian farmers".
During his address, Gandhi claimed he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha recently after the President's address because he wanted to comment on former Army Chief Manoj Naravane's memoirs.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said he intended to refer to an unpublished book by Gen Naravane (retd), which, he claimed, described a lack of response from the political leadership during Chinese troop movements near the border.
Senior Congress leaders, including K C Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition in Punjab, Partap Singh Bajwa, former chief ministers Charanjit Singh Channi and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Randhawa and another senior leader from the state Vijay Inder Singla were present.
