England end day two at 225/2, trail India by 133 runs
Manchester, Jul 24 (PTI): England were comfortably placed at 225 for two at stumps after bowling out India for 358 on the second day of the fourth Test here on Thursday.
Openers Ben Duckett (94 off 100 balls) and Zak Crawley (84 off 113 balls) led England's strong response with a brisk 166-run partnership, as the home team trailed India by 133 runs in their first innings at close of play.
Ollie Pope (20) and Joe Root (11) were at the crease at stumps.
Earlier in the day, Rishabh Pant batted with a fractured toe to score a half-century before the Ben Stokes-led England ended India's first innings post lunch.
The injured Pant, who walked in awkwardly to a standing ovation a day after retiring hurt on 37 after copping a blow on his right foot, braved pain to make 54 off 75 balls even as Stokes finished with excellent figures of 5/72.
Resuming on 264 for four, India were dealt an early blow as Ravindra Jadeja edged a Jofra Archer outswinger to Harry Brook at second slip in only the day's second over.
Shardul Thakur (41) and Washington Sundar (27) added 48 runs for the sixth wicket after England opted to take the second new ball at the start of the day's play.
Brief scores:
India 1st innings: 358 all out in 114.1 overs (Sai Sudharsan 61, Yashasvi Jaiswal 58, Rishabh Pant 54, Shardul Thakur 41; Ben Stokes 5/72).
England 1st innings: 225/2 in 46 overs (Ben Duckett 94, Zak Crawley 84).
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Electorate in 9 states, UTs shrink by 1.70 crore after SIR
New Delhi (PTI): Voter base in nine states and Union territories has shrunk by more than 1.70 crore following the publication of final electoral rolls as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), according to official data.
The data shared by the chief electoral officers of Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa and Kerala on Saturday showed that their combined voter base stood at over 21.45 crore before the SIR exercise began on October 27 last year.
It shrunk to 19.75 crore after publication of their final electoral rolls this week, a net change of over 1.70 crore electors.
While the exercise, which kept the Election Commission in the spotlight, has been completed in Bihar, it is currently underway in 12 states and Union territories covering nearly 60 crore electors.
The remaining 40 crore electors will be covered in 17 states and five Union territories.
In Assam, a "special revision", instead of SIR, was completed on February 10.
Due to a variety of reasons, the SIR in the nine states and three Union territories have seen frequent tweaking in schedules.
As in Bihar, political parties have approached the Supreme Court challenging the exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
