Third Test: England 423-8 at stumps on day 2, extend lead by 345 runs
Leeds, Aug 26: Joe Root stamped his authority over the Indian bowling attack with a third masterful hundred in as many games, putting England in a dominant position on day two of the second Test here on Thursday.
Though India won at Lord's, they were not able to trouble Root (121 off 165) and the England skipper extended his purple patch with his 23rd Test hundred and sixth of the year to take his team to a commanding 423 for eight at stumps on day two.
England now lead by 345 runs.
After openers Rory Burns (61 off 153) and Haseeb Hameed (68 off 195) gave England the start they were desperately looking for, Root and Dawid Malan (70 off 128) shared a brisk 139-run stand off 189 balls to pile misery on the Indians who were all out for 78 on day one.
Root as usual was a delight to watch, scoring runs at will and all around the wicket. His 14 boundaries included his trademark punch through the cover, which brought about his fifty before he flicked one between mid on and midwicket to get to three figures.
Such was the range on offer that he also swept and reverse swept left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. Barring Mohammed Shami, the Indian pacers had another ordinary day and Root made them pay for their erratic line and length.
With his 23rd hundred, Root equalled Kevin Pietersen's record and is now only behind Alastair Cook (33).
Jasprit Bumrah managed to get one past Root's watertight defence late in the final session to end a memorable innings in front of his home crowd. India managed to pick five wickets in the session but the damage had already been done.
Malan, playing his first Test in three years, lent much needed solidity in an otherwise struggling line-up. With the confidence that the southpaw played, it didn't seem that he was away from the five-day game for a long time.
India find themselves thrown in at the deep end and will have to bat extremely well to first avoid an innings defeat and then save the game from there on.
The pitch has dried out and Indian pacers failed to get purchase out of it for the second day running.
Earlier, runs came thick and fast for England in the afternoon session as India bowlers appeared toothless, both with old and new ball. The hosts added 116 runs in the session with Root and Malan collecting runs comfortably.
Against the run of play, Malan picked up a faint edge while trying to flick Mohammad Siraj at the stroke of tea.
Indian pacers, who scripted a memorable win at Lord's, bowled too many boundary balls and the England duo was quick to put them away.
Root, who is in the form of his life, reached his 51st fifty off just 57 balls with a gorgeous back foot punch through the cover.
Malan too played some delightful strokes and was brutal as well as elegant on the off-side. Besides the cover drives and rasping cut shots, he also effectively used the glide to third man region.
In the morning session, India struck twice but it was not enough to put England under pressure.
The home team managed to score 62 runs in the session, taking their first innings to score 182 for two having started the day at 120 for no loss.
Shami, coming round the wicket, removed Rory Burns in the first hour of play with a ball that nipped back in sharply to hit the top of off-stump.
India got a much needed second wicket against the run of play when Ravindra Jadeja struck in his first over of the day with a beauty.
The left-arm spinner got one to straighten slightly from middle and off-stump to beat a well-set Hameed and kiss the bails for his first wicket of the series.
Ishant Sharma opened the bowling for India and like on Wednesday, did not look at his best and struggled to find the right line and length on the surface. England fast bowlers had bowled much fuller on day one.
The Indian attack, which relies on seam more than swing, was not able to extract much from the pitch. The accuracy, which England pacers displayed, was also missing.
Siraj bowled a couple of looseners in his first over which Malan duly cut to the deep backward point and third man respectively. The southpaw began with an elegant cover drive off Jasprit Bumrah before growing in confidence.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Amethi to not have contender from Gandhi family for first time in 25 years
New Delhi (PTI): Uttar Pradesh's Amethi has long been synonymous with the Gandhis and it would be the first time in 25 years that a Gandhi family member will not be contesting election from the Lok Sabha seat.
Considered a citadel of the Gandhi family since its creation as a constituency in 1967, Amethi has been represented by a Gandhi family member for about 31 years since then.
The Congress fortress was breached in the last general election in 2019 when BJP's Smriti Irani beat Rahul Gandhi by more than 55,000 votes.
This time, Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha election from the Rae Bareli seat, while Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.
Sharma was the key person who looked after the two prestigious constituencies on behalf of the Gandhis.
The last time a non-Gandhi was in the fray from the constituency was in 1998, when Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, contested the polls but lost to the BJP's Sanjaya Sinh.
Sonia Gandhi reclaimed the seat in 1999 routing Singh by over 3 lakh votes.
In 2004, Sonia shifted to the adjacent Rae Bareli constituency to make way for her son Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul won the constituency for three consecutive terms in 2004, 2009 and 2014.
Contesting for the fourth time in 2019, he lost to Smriti Irani, who hit the headlines as a 'giant killer'.
Amethi is one of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh and comprises five assembly segments — Tiloi, Salon, Jagdishpur, Gauriganj, and Amethi.
Over the past few years, the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party have emerged as the three main players in the constituency.
Its first Member of Parliament was Vidya Dhar Bajpai of the Congress who was elected in 1967 and held the seat in the next election in 1971.
In the 1977 election, Ravindra Pratap Singh of the Janata Party became an MP from the seat defeating former prime minister Indira Gandhi's younger son Sanjay Gandhi.
Sanjay Gandhi had his electoral revenge three years later when he defeated Singh in the 1980 general election.
Later that year, Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash and the seat fell vacant. In the consequent by-election held in 1981, Sanjay's brother Rajiv Gandhi scored a landslide victory from the seat, defeating his closest rival by more than 2 lakh votes.
Rajiv Gandhi went on to represent this constituency until 1991 when he was assassinated by the militant group LTTE.
The subsequent by-election held the same year was won by Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and later Sonia Gandhi.
Sharma was re-elected in 1996 but lost to BJP's Sanjaya Sinh in 1998.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Irani won the Amethi seat with a margin of over 55,000 votes, polling 4,68,514 votes. Rahul Gandhi got 4,13,394 votes.
In 2014, Rahul Gandhi won the Amethi seat for the third time in a row, polling 4,08,651 votes to Irani's 3,00,748 votes.
BSP candidate Dharmendra Pratap Singh came third with 57,716 votes and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Dr Kumar Vishwas was in fourth position with 25,527 votes.
The Amethi and Rae Bareli seats will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth of the seven-phase general election.
Ending days of suspense, the party announced the candidates from the two seats early Friday.
Deliberations had been on in the party since Thursday over the names of the contenders for the two seats.
The BJP had on Thursday announced Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli. He had lost to Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
