Nottingham: A solid opening partnership between KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma has put the Indian team in the driver’s seat on lunch on day 2 of the first test match against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Rohit Sharma fell on the stroke of lunch while attempting a pull shot and handing a soft catch to the fielder on the fine leg.

The openers who remained not out at the end of day 1 after the Indian seamers ran through the England line-up, continued batting with good intent after a defensive first hour.

The English bowlers although troubled the two in the first few overs with a few play and misses but couldn’t grab any luck to break through the partnership before managing the first wicket in the 38th over of the inning.

While Rohit remained solid in his defense and watchful in his shot, Rahul played quite freely and majestically drove through the off-side for a few boundaries.

Going into Lunch on Day 2 India’s scorecard read 97-1 with Rahul batting on 48 and Rohit falling after a well-made 36.

Earlier on Day 1, Indian bowlers had bundled out England on 183, triggering a collapse after the host looked confident at 138-3 at one stage.

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Thiruvananthapuram/Kozhikode (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that a recent article in a RSS mouthpiece about the property owned in the country by the Catholic Church indicates the "true mindset" of the right-wing organisation and the alleged "majority communalism of the Sangh Parivar".

In a statement issued by his office, Vijayan said that though the article was removed from the website of the RSS mouthpiece, it gives some "negative signals".

The CM also alleged that it should be seen as part of "a grand plan to target the minority groups one by one and destroy them step by step".

A similar view was expressed by Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan who claimed that the article shows that the RSS has now set its eyes on the property of the church.

In his statement, the CM further claimed that it also shows the Sangh Parivar's "intense majority communalism which is against other religious communities".

Vijayan urged all progressive democratic secular movements to jointly resist such moves.

Satheesan, while speaking to reporters in Kozhikode, claimed that in the article the RSS has asked the central government to acquire the over seven crore hectares of land belonging to the Catholic Church.

He contended that according to the RSS, the church property was illegally leased during the British era.

Satheesan claimed that the RSS demand in the article came on the same day when the Waqf Bill was passed in the Parliament.

"We warned that if the Waqf Bill is passed, the Church Bill will follow," he added.

The opposition leader said that such actions indicate that while the Sangh Parivar was trying to appease Christians in Kerala, it was attacking them in the rest of the country.

He expressed hope that the Christians will recognise them as "wolves in sheep's clothing".