New Delhi: Injured Rishabh Pant smashed a fighting fifty while Shardul Thakur scored useful 41 runs as India ended their first innings at 358 runs on the second day of the fourth Test match against England. Resuming from their overnight score of 264/4, the Shubman Gill-led side added another 94 runs till the post-lunch session on Thursday ending their first innings on a respectable score.
Skipper Ben Stokes proved to be the pick of the bowlers for the English side with a sensational fifer, which he claimed after a 8-year gap which speedster Jofra Archer claimed three wickets to shine for the hosts. Resuming on a challenging day, Jadeja and Thakur were unable to carry on from were they left on Day 1 as the former departed to the pavilion early in the morning session for 20 runs.
Thakur, though continued his fine form from Day 1 adding some valuable runs before following the footsteps of his partner Jadeja. Washington Sundar too contributed in India’s efforts with valuable 27 runs but failed to convert his score into a big one. Anshul Kamboj and Jasprit Bumrah departed for 0 and 4 respectively while Pant’s wicket was dismantled by Archer after the southpaw scored 54 runs, adding 17 runs to his overnight score.
Pant matches Sehwag
Pant, who smashed two sixes during his fighting knock, matched Virender Sehwag for the most sixes record for India in Test cricket. Sehwag led the elite list with 90 maximums in the longest format while Pant was joint-second with Rohit Sharm with 88 maximums. With two sensational hits, the left-handed batter matched Sehwag’s record of 90 sixes, remaining one six short of becoming the batter with most sixes for India in Tests.
Most sixes for India in Tests
90* – Rishabh Pant
90 – Virender Sehwag
88 – Rohit Sharma
78 – MS Dhoni
74 – Ravindra Jadeja